I don’t think any other “Golden Era Artist” has benefitted more from the current state of hip-hop than Juicy J of Three 6 Mafia. I’ve been a fan of Triple 6 from my first listen. My cousin from Memphis put me on to them. I didn’t love EVERYTHING they did but, I was definitely in seek of their music and became a fan.

“We all liked Juicy J but, that ni**a was NEVER our favorite rapper…BUT TODAY!!! Juicy J is a lot of kids favorite rapper!” – CamQuotes

Those were the exact words that I said to my family recently as we talked about music and the industry. There are a variety of reasons of why Juicy J’s fame and star power have increased but, who truly expected the co-producer and founder of Three 6 to be a legit headliner and hit maker with crossover appeal in 2014? I know I didn’t. Lets talk why.

Taylor Gang
When Wiz Khalifa came forward and said he was a fan of the Three 6 style that did wonders for Juicy J. It should have worked for the whole crew but considering the last Three 6 album didn’t even have 3 members I see why things are the way they are. At the time Wiz was barely 23 meaning Juicy had put out albums and songs that were literally on earth before he was and he was definitely not old enough to hear a lot of Juicy’s music the first time around. Signing Juicy to Taylor Gang and giving him AR/Presidential control worked wonders. All of a sudden the Traditional 3-6 sound has another big, young and growing engine behind it. It’s also been revamped thanks to young cats like Lex Luger who did a few Juicy J Mixtapes. Mix a pioneer with some young hungry cats under 25 and you just might cook up greatness.

Embracing The New Generation
The Era of Crunk Music is nothing more than Revamped Classic Three 6 Mafia. Lil Jon and The Eastside Boys, Lil Scrappy, Trillville, Waka Flocka, Mike Will Made It and many others were fathered by the Style DJ Paul and Juicy J ushered in. Unlike most rappers and producers Juicy J took a different route. He didn’t present himself as bitter, hateful, angered, disgruntled or pissed that “The New Generation is stealing my style”. He embraced it. A new generation of artist genuinely LOVE Juicy J for how he is and what he does today because he’s not so stuck on getting credit and money for things he did “yesterday”. I believe that has helped the new generation of fans embrace him as well. Juicy J will hop on a song with Justin Timberlake or Katy Perry as fast as he will jump on a song with Wiz, Migos or Jeezy. It’s honestly a page that a lot of other artist with less than a quarter of Juicy’s resume should read. It may buy them some more time in the game.

The young ni**as are taking over – Juicy J [Blue Dream and Lean Mixtape]

Getting Better with Time
It’s 2014 and you can go to any college in America and some white kid is going to tell you “Juicy J is my favorite rapper”. When “Slob On My Knob” first dropped, I don’t believe anyone around me ever considered Juicy J as top 5. People liked or loved the song but favorite was out of the question. Present Day you have kids as well as aspiring artist like The Loose Screws out of Indiana who are big fans of Juicy J and consider him an inspiration to what they do. I can’t front though. Juicy over time has become a much better rapper. It could possibly be the company he keeps or it could be that the aura has increased the stigma but either way, Juicy J is starting to win BIG in the actual task of rapping. He has not changed his flow, subject matter or production but he is reaping the benefits of “If It Ain’t Broke…Don’t Fix It”.

I just watched a show where Juicy J cut the beat off and rapped acapella for the crowd and they went NUTS after he finished the 16….Never thought I would see that day. I don’t think you can blame the quality or quantity of music right now on Juicy J’s success. He came up in a time of literally some of the greatest artist and rappers EVER, Independently and made millions of Dollars and he wasn’t as good at the actual task of rapping as he is right now. No shot to him but, this isn’t a 2 Chainz situation where you just haven’t broke through…this is slow and steady winning the race twice. In fact, Juicy J is winning MORE NOW by himself than he was with a group of 6 people.

Playboy Juice is not going anywhere and at this pace it may be hard to ignore him as one of the elite’s of the game. Not many people get a SUCCESSFUL 20 Year Run. Juicy J is out here getting it! He’s not just around to be around. He selling records, headlining tours and gaining new fans half his age every day. He’s living proof that doing you, staying on your course and really working hard can help you achieve rap success for a very long time. You have no choice but to respect that.