Rap Atlas: Memphis — Three 6 Mafia, Yo Gotti and Paper Route Empire

Memphis rap grew from two independent lineages that still define the city’s sound. 8Ball & MJG’s Comin’ Out Hard (Suave House, 1993) set the pimp-and-Cadillac template, while DJ Paul, Juicy J and Lord Infamous built Three 6 Mafia from early-1990s mixtapes into Mystic Stylez (Prophet, 1995), a platinum run and a 2006 Academy Award for “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.” Yo Gotti returned the city to national charts in the 2000s and founded CMG (2012), which later signed Moneybagg Yo and GloRilla; Young Dolph’s Paper Route Empire stayed fully independent and launched Key Glock; NLE Choppa broke from Cordova High School with “Shotta Flow” (2019).

This Rap Atlas entry documents nine core acts, eleven dated turning points, and seven labels and crews, drawn from the verified registry behind this page. Every place attribution is split into born, raised or based, and where the record could not confirm a detail, this article says so.

Timeline: Memphis Rap, 1993–2026

In 1993, 8Ball & MJG released Comin’ Out Hard on Suave House, Tony Draper’s local label, as recorded by XXL’s “Today in Hip-Hop.” The Memphis duo, friends since middle school, built an early model for Southern rap.

In May 1995, Three 6 Mafia independently released Mystic Stylez on Prophet Entertainment, the label jointly owned by DJ Paul and Juicy J. Complex credited the album with opening the way for an entire strain of Memphis rap. In October, 8Ball & MJG released On Top of the World.

Three 6 Mafia’s Chapter 2: World Domination, on Relativity, was certified gold by the RIAA on July 9, 1998. In 2000, Yo Gotti made his hometown debut with From the Dope Game to the Rap Game, according to Complex. In 2001, Project Pat’s Mista Don’t Play: Everythangs Workin’, on Loud, was certified gold by the RIAA on March 29 of that year.

Three 6 Mafia’s “Stay Fly,” on Columbia, was certified platinum by the RIAA on December 7, 2005. On March 5, 2006, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from Hustle & Flow, written by Jordan Houston (Juicy J), Cedric Coleman and Paul Beauregard (DJ Paul), won Best Original Song at the 78th Academy Awards. Most Known Unknown was certified gold by the RIAA in November 2005 and platinum in June 2006.

In 2012, Yo Gotti founded CMG, initially Cocaine Muzik Group and later Collective Music Group. Complex wrote that his album from that year, Live From the Kitchen, put Memphis back on hip-hop’s national stage.

In 2016, Young Dolph released King of Memphis on Paper Route Empire. That October, Yo Gotti signed Moneybagg Yo to CMG. In 2017, Paper Route Empire’s Daddy O and Dolph signed Key Glock.

In January 2019, NLE Choppa released “Shotta Flow” while a student at Cordova High School; it later entered the Hot 100 (exact chart-entry date not confirmed in this edition). On July 26, Young Dolph and Key Glock released Dum and Dummer. In October, Three 6 Mafia played a reunion concert at the Landers Center in Southaven.

In May 2021, Moneybagg Yo’s A Gangsta’s Pain debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 110,000 units, his first No. 1 on the chart. In June, CMG entered a partnership with Interscope. On November 17, Young Dolph was shot and killed at Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, a South Memphis cookie shop; he was 36.

In 2022, GloRilla’s “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” with Hitkidd entered the Hot 100, and she signed with CMG/Interscope. At the 65th Grammy Awards in February 2023, she was a nominee for Best Rap Performance. On January 1, 2023, Gangsta Boo of Three 6 Mafia died at her home in Memphis.

In September 2024, a jury found Justin Johnson guilty of first-degree murder in the killing of Young Dolph and he was sentenced to life in prison. Jermarcus Johnson, who had pleaded guilty in June 2023 to three counts of assisting the shooter after the killing, was sentenced to probation on November 22, 2024. That October, GloRilla’s Glorious reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with 69,000 units — Vibe reported it as 2024’s largest opening week for a female rapper.

At the 68th Grammy Awards, Glorious was nominated for Best Rap Album, and “Sticky” and “TGIF” were nominated for Best Rap Song. Glorious had been certified gold by the RIAA by mid-2025, per a Universal Music Canada announcement.

Districts and Venues

This edition covers Memphis, Tennessee, including the districts of Orange Mound, Frayser/North Memphis, South Memphis, Westwood and Cordova, as well as the Memphis metro area including Southaven, Mississippi, where the Landers Center is located. One venue tied to this scene is Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies, a South Memphis cookie shop where Young Dolph was shot and killed on November 17, 2021, and which has since become a site of remembrance; further details about the shop are not confirmed in this edition.

Representative Acts

8Ball & MJG. A duo made up of Premro Smith (8Ball) and Marlon Jermaine Goodwin (MJG), friends since middle school in Memphis. Their 1993 album Comin’ Out Hard on Suave House built an early model for Southern rap, and the 1995 follow-up On Top of the World secured their standing. XXL’s “Today in Hip-Hop” has recorded both albums as historic works, and the duo was selected for XXL’s “20 Best Memphis Rap Projects,” while Complex cited them in 2013 as part of the backdrop to Yo Gotti. No RIAA certifications under the names “8Ball & MJG” or “Eightball” were confirmed in this edition, and an Orange Mound origin could not be confirmed in A-grade full text. This entry is marked partial.

Three 6 Mafia. Built by DJ Paul, Juicy J and Lord Infamous out of early-1990s mixtapes, with Koopsta Knicca, Gangsta Boo and Crunchy Black later joining the lineup. The 1995 album Mystic Stylez tied horrorcore to Memphis low-end, and Complex named it an essential Southern hip-hop record in 2015. The RIAA has certified Chapter 2: World Domination (1998) and Da Unbreakables (2004) gold, “Stay Fly” (2005) platinum, and Most Known Unknown gold in 2005 and platinum in 2006, and lists “Lolli Lolli” (2009, Columbia); the certification level shown by an automated search could not be directly confirmed against the page’s own text. In 2006 the group won the Academy Award for Best Original Song with “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp,” and Rolling Stone counted them among hip-hop’s important groups in 2021. The act is from Memphis, which Complex called the group’s hometown in 2019, and no narrower district is confirmed in this edition; Gangsta Boo died at her Memphis home on January 1, 2023, according to Pitchfork.

Project Pat. A Memphis MC who came up as a member of Hypnotize Camp Posse, the Hypnotize Minds collective. His 2001 album Mista Don’t Play: Everythangs Workin’, released on Loud, was certified gold by the RIAA on March 29, 2001. He remained active through 2017’s M.O.B., which featured Young Dolph and Juicy J, and appeared alongside 21 Savage on Drake’s “Knife Talk,” a platinum-certified record. XXL described him as a “Memphis rap legend” in 2017, and Complex documented his participation in a Hypnotize Camp Posse reunion performance in 2019 as an original member of the group. He is from Memphis; where he was raised or currently based is not confirmed in this edition.

Yo Gotti. A rapper and label head raised in Frayser, Memphis, where he grew up in the Ridgecrest apartment complex; his place of birth is not confirmed in this edition. He began his career as “Lil Yo” in DJ Sound’s crew, releasing his debut Youngsta’s On a Come Up in 1996 (per a CMG/Interscope press release), and released From the Dope Game to the Rap Game in 2000. In 2012 he founded CMG, which later partnered with Interscope, and the label has released artists including Moneybagg Yo, GloRilla, 42 Dugg and EST Gee. His RIAA certifications include the 5× platinum single “Rake It Up” featuring Nicki Minaj, the 4× platinum “Down in the DM,” and gold albums I Am, The Art of the Hustle and Untrapped on Epic. Complex wrote in 2013 that Live From the Kitchen put Memphis back in the spotlight.

Young Dolph. The rap name of Adolph Thornton Jr., who was born in Chicago and moved to Memphis with his parents as a toddler; where he was based is not confirmed in this edition. From the 2008 mixtape Paper Route Campaign onward he stayed independent on his own Paper Route Empire (PRE), releasing the album King of Memphis in 2016 and Dum and Dummer with Key Glock in 2019. Variety (2019) reported that he turned down a $22 million major-label offer and partnered with EMPIRE, and Pitchfork (2019) described him as a Memphis native who maintained independence. The RIAA certified the albums Rich Slave and Dum and Dummer gold and the tracks “100 Shots,” “Foreva,” “Play Wit Yo’ Bitch” and “Major” platinum (Paper Route Empire/Empire). He was shot and killed at Makeda’s Homemade Butter Cookies in Memphis on November 17, 2021. In September 2024, a jury found Justin Johnson guilty of first-degree murder and he was sentenced to life in prison; Jermarcus Johnson, who had pleaded guilty in June 2023 to three counts of assisting the shooter after the killing, was sentenced to probation on November 22, 2024, per AP.

Moneybagg Yo. The stage name of DeMario DeWayne White Jr., a rapper from Memphis. He came up through N-Less Entertainment, the label of former Grizzlies player Zach Randolph, before signing with Yo Gotti’s CMG in October 2016. His 2021 album A Gangsta’s Pain debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 110,000 units. His RIAA listings include “Said Sum” and “Me Vs Me” (certification level shown by an automated search could not be directly confirmed against the page’s own text) and “43VA Heartless” at gold among others, across N-Less, CMG and Interscope. In a 2021 Rolling Stone interview, he described his background: “I came from the gutter part of Memphis — like the bottom.”

Key Glock. Born Markeyvius Cathey, born and raised in South Memphis. He is related to Young Dolph as a cousin through marriage, according to The FADER and XXL, though Variety has described the two as blood cousins. In 2017 he signed with Young Dolph’s Paper Route Empire and debuted with Glock Season, followed by Dum and Dummer in 2019. After Young Dolph’s death, he continued as a central figure of PRE. His RIAA certifications include platinum for “Russian Cream” and “Ambition for Cash,” and gold for Yellow Tape, Glockoma 2 and Mr. Glock on Paper Route Empire/Empire. The FADER (2018) named him a new lyricist from Memphis, while XXL’s “The Break” (2018) and Variety (2019) documented his PRE signing and independent path.

GloRilla. The stage name of Gloria Woods, a rapper raised in the Frayser neighborhood of North Memphis, where she grew up singing in a church choir; her birthplace is not confirmed in this edition. She broke through in 2022 on Hitkidd’s “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” and signed with CMG/Interscope. Her 2024 album Glorious reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200, with Vibe reporting 69,000 units in its opening week. She has six Grammy nominations, according to grammy.com: rap performance for “F.N.F.” in 2023, two categories for “Yeah Glo!” in 2025, and rap album for Glorious plus rap song for “Sticky” and “TGIF” in 2026. The RIAA has certified “Tomorrow 2” 4× platinum, “Yeah Glo!” 3× platinum, “F.N.F.” platinum, and Glorious gold.

NLE Choppa. The stage name of Bryson Potts, born on November 1, 2002 and raised in Memphis. While attending Cordova High School, he released “Shotta Flow” in January 2019, which later entered the Hot 100 (exact chart-entry date not confirmed in this edition). He turned down a $3 million offer from a major label and instead partnered with UnitedMasters, leading his own No Love Entertainment. His RIAA certifications include “Shotta Flow” at 3× platinum, “Walk Em Down” and “Camelot” at 5× platinum, and the album Top Shotta at platinum (RIAA, dated June 2, 2023), released through No Love Entertainment and Warner. Complex (2019) documented his birth in Memphis, Tennessee, his schooling, and the Hot 100 entry of “Shotta Flow,” while XXL’s “The Break” (2019) listed his hometown as Memphis.

Labels and Crews

Suave House Records is Tony Draper’s label, which released 8Ball & MJG’s Comin’ Out Hard in 1993 and was described by XXL as a “then-upstart local label”; Rick Ross was also on the roster in later years, while its founding year and location, including any move to Houston, are not confirmed in this edition.

Prophet Entertainment was an early label co-owned by DJ Paul and Juicy J with Nick Scarfo, which self-released Mystic Stylez in 1995.

Hypnotize Minds, also known as Hypnotize Camp Posse, is a collective around Three 6 Mafia whose original members Crunchy Black, Gangsta Boo, Project Pat, Lil Wyte and La Chat took part in a 2019 reunion show, according to Complex; its founding year is not confirmed in this edition.

CMG (Collective Music Group) was founded by Yo Gotti in 2012 under the former name Cocaine Muzik Group, partnered with Roc Nation in 2016 and with Interscope in June 2021, and its roster includes Moneybagg Yo, GloRilla, 42 Dugg, EST Gee, Blac Youngsta and Mozzy, who joined in 2022.

Paper Route Empire (PRE) is Young Dolph’s independent label, led by CEO Daddy O according to XXL; it signed Key Glock in 2017 and entered a distribution partnership with EMPIRE around 2018, per Variety, and after Dolph’s death Key Glock and others have kept it going.

N-Less Entertainment is a label associated with former Memphis Grizzlies player Zach Randolph, an early signing home for Moneybagg Yo that is still credited alongside CMG and Interscope, per the RIAA.

No Love Entertainment (NLE) began as a movement NLE Choppa started with friends before becoming a label, distributing through UnitedMasters and later Warner, according to Complex and the RIAA.

Inclusion, Exclusion and Correction Policy

Rap Atlas does not sell placement and does not rank the selected artists. The full criteria are published at Rap Atlas criteria; the points that governed this edition are below.

• A core act qualifies under the published Rap Atlas criteria: Criterion 1 is an official streaming release record plus verifiable national or specialist-media coverage, a documented performance, or chart evidence; Criterion 2 requires a historical role in the regional scene confirmed by multiple independent sources. Eight entries are marked verified; 8Ball & MJG are partial.
• Geography is stated as born, raised or based, and only from the body text of an A-grade source. Wikipedia was used only to find leads and appears nowhere as a basis or citation.
• Order is roughly chronological by career start and carries no ranking.
• Legal matters are handled minimally, following the published policy. Young Dolph’s death is recorded as a reported fact (Rolling Stone/AP/Pitchfork, November 17, 2021) together with the court’s results — Justin Johnson’s September 2024 guilty verdict and life sentence, and Jermarcus Johnson’s June 2023 guilty plea to three counts of assisting the shooter after the killing and his November 2024 probation sentence. Other legal matters connected to this scene, including disputed or ongoing proceedings, are not restated in this edition. Gangsta Boo’s death is recorded by date and location only, sourced to Pitchfork; no cause of death is stated in this edition.
• One producer with Memphis ties is held out of this edition under an editorial hold for insufficient evidence and is not treated as a subject in the narrative sections; Metro Boomin’s name appears only in this policy note and in the Evidence Limits section below, to record the hold.
• Corrections: send evidence via the contact page. A contributor is named only on request; anonymous corrections are accepted. Acts outside this edition’s scope — including Juicy J (solo), DJ Paul (solo), Playa Fly, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Al Kapone, Tommy Wright III, Blac Youngsta, BlocBoy JB, Duke Deuce, Big Boogie, Pooh Shiesty and Hitkidd — are the primary target of the reader-supplement window.

Evidence Limits and Uncertainty Register

Verification was carried out on September 3, 2026 by retrieving the full text of each cited page, except where noted below. The session began with the WebSearch quota exhausted, so source discovery was limited to Wikipedia’s external-links lists, the XXL and Complex tag pages, and direct queries to RIAA and Grammy.com. The Commercial Appeal (commercialappeal.com) could not be retrieved by curl or WebFetch (HTTP 406 / access refused), and searches of the Daily Memphian and the Memphis Flyer returned no results, so district-level attribution could not be confirmed against local papers. The New York Times (a 2022 Moneybagg Yo article and the Young Dolph obituary) was also unobtainable. Billboard.com full text was not retrieved, and chart facts were confirmed through quotations in XXL, Vibe and Complex.

Confidence is high on several points. The Memphis attribution of all nine acts agrees across multiple A-grade sources. The full text confirms Criterion 1 for Three 6 Mafia (five RIAA certifications and an Academy Award), Yo Gotti (numerous RIAA certifications), Young Dolph (numerous RIAA certifications plus Pitchfork, Variety and Rolling Stone), Moneybagg Yo (a Billboard 200 No. 1 plus RIAA), Key Glock (RIAA plus The FADER), GloRilla (six Grammy nominations plus RIAA), NLE Choppa (numerous RIAA certifications plus Complex), and Project Pat (RIAA gold plus XXL). CMG’s 2012 founding and 2021 Interscope partnership, PRE and Prophet Entertainment are confirmed in full text.

One entry remains partial. For 8Ball & MJG, no certification appears under their names in an RIAA search, and an Orange Mound origin could not be confirmed in A-grade full text, though their historical role is confirmed in three XXL articles. Among the district names checked, Three 6 Mafia’s “North Memphis,” Project Pat’s “North Memphis,” Young Dolph’s “Castalia, South Memphis” and Moneybagg Yo’s “South Memphis” could not be confirmed in A-grade full text and were rolled back to “Memphis”; the confirmed district-level attributions are Yo Gotti (Frayser, per Complex), Key Glock (south Memphis, per The FADER) and GloRilla (Frayser, per XXL). Whether Project Pat is Juicy J’s brother, the founding year of Hypnotize Minds, and the founding year and location of Suave House are unconfirmed. Three 6 Mafia’s formation year is not stated, because Complex describes it as “early ’90s” rather than giving 1991. The relationship between Young Dolph and Key Glock is described inconsistently: The FADER and XXL say “cousin through marriage,” while Variety says “blood cousin.” The RIAA listings for Three 6 Mafia’s “Lolli Lolli” and Moneybagg Yo’s “Said Sum” and “Me Vs Me” show a certification level this record could not confirm. The place of birth for Yo Gotti, GloRilla and Moneybagg Yo is not confirmed in this edition.

Metro Boomin is not included because the editorial ledger lists him as held for insufficient evidence. Juicy J (solo), DJ Paul (solo), Gangsta Boo (as a solo act beyond her Three 6 Mafia role), Playa Fly, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Al Kapone, Tommy Wright III, Blac Youngsta, BlocBoy JB, Duke Deuce, Big Boogie, Pooh Shiesty and Hitkidd fall outside the verification scope of this session; this is not a judgment that their listing value is low, and they remain eligible for the reader-supplement desk. For Gangsta Boo, only the date and location of her death are recorded, sourced to Pitchfork; no cause of death is stated in this edition. The listing carries no ranking, and the order follows the approximate chronology of when each act became active.

Last verified: 2026-09-03 (fact-checking against sources). This edition was assembled, gated and audited on 2026-09-09.

Main References

The sources below support the claims made throughout this article; this edition does not carry inline citation links next to individual sentences. As a rule of thumb: certifications trace to RIAA, Grammy nominations to Grammy.com, the Academy Award to oscars.org, and chart placements and narrative details to the news sources listed below.

• XXL — 8Ball & MJG — Comin’ Out Hard, 20 Best Memphis Rap Projects, Project Pat — M.O.B., Key Glock — The Break, GloRilla Interview, NLE Choppa — The Break, Three 6 Mafia Wins Oscar, Moneybagg Yo — A Gangsta’s Pain Debuts No. 1
• Complex — Three 6 Mafia, Yo Gotti — Memphis, Hypnotize Camp Posse Reunion, NLE Choppa — Everything You Need to Know
• The FADER — Key Glock Interview
• Rolling Stone — Three 6 Mafia, Moneybagg Yo Interview, Young Dolph
• Pitchfork — Gangsta Boo’s Cause of Death, Young Dolph & Key Glock — Dum and Dummer
• Variety — Young Dolph & Key Glock Interview
• Vibe — GloRilla — Highest First-Week Sales, 2024
• Grammy.com — GloRilla
• RIAA (artist/title-specific certification searches) — Three 6 Mafia, Project Pat, Yo Gotti, Young Dolph, Moneybagg Yo, Key Glock, GloRilla, NLE Choppa
• AP — Young Dolph killing — sentence

Related Guides and Coverage

Rap Atlas

• Rap Atlas: United States hub — Memphis entry
• Rap Atlas: all regions
• Rap Atlas criteria and correction policy

Corrections

• Send a correction or a supplement
• 2026-09-10: Clarified the charges Jermarcus Johnson pleaded guilty to (AP).
• 2026-09-10: Corrected NLE Choppa’s Top Shotta RIAA certification to platinum, dated June 2, 2023; corrected “made his local debut in 2000” to note Yo Gotti’s 1996 debut as “Lil Yo” while keeping the 2000 release; removed unconfirmed “diamond” certification-level language for Three 6 Mafia’s “Lolli Lolli” and Moneybagg Yo’s “Said Sum”/”Me Vs Me”; changed “based in Memphis” to “from Memphis” for Three 6 Mafia and Project Pat where sources support origin but not current base.