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Bunny
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DJ Paul
Man, what's happening, man? It's been forever, dude.
Bunny
I'm so happy you're here, man.
DJ Paul
I've been trying to get on here for a long time, but we always missing each other. You got. You got to take this on the road when we on tour. Like, just do it on the bus.
Bunny
I'm ready. I'm ready to do the tour, man. We're gonna. We're talking about it, but every time I try to go do a freaking on the road tour, somebody's like, no, you gotta do this before. And I'm like, yeah, but we're gonna do it soon.
DJ Paul
And one thing I noticed about touring in studios is it never happens.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Like, I always be like, we bring all kind of on the bus. And we were like, oh, man, we're gonna record an album on the off days. And no off days, you'd be like, in some hotel swimming pool with a barbecue grill.
Bunny
And, like, you just. You want to enjoy your days off. That's what we did when I was on tour. Just this last tour, we brought all the podcast stuff, and I was like, I'm gonna inter everybody on the tour. Never happened. Because I was just like, I didn't want to do hair and makeup. I didn't want to. Like, I was just like, no, please. So I. Trust me, I totally feel that it don't happen. I tell everybody that I meet about you, they're just like, he's such a g. He's so gangster. And I'm like, yes, he's all of that. I said, but I always say, Paul is the sweetest human you will ever meet. Like, it is so crazy to me, which we're going to get into all the 36 mafia sounds and stuff like that, that you guys do such dark music, but you are such a light of a human.
DJ Paul
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it's. I've come to find that out with a lot of people, I'm sure you have, too, that you meet, you know, your journey. Like, some people, you'll be like, I don't know if he's approachable, because they used to say the same thing about me today. Meet me.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And I've seen some guys, and I'm like, I don't know about this. And then. Then you come to find out they. They super, super nice.
Bunny
Yeah. And that's how it was with you. Because I remember when you guys, we were all touring together during that time, I think was ago, and I was like, oh, my God, I'm so nervous. I'm so nervous because I. I've got to meet you, but I never got to hang out with you. And then we got to film those tik toks and stuff. And I was like, dude, Paul is so funny and so sweet. Like, yeah, no, it was so fun.
DJ Paul
So now, I did meet one celebrity once.
Bunny
Who was it?
DJ Paul
And he was kind of like. He was in the movies, and I was like. I said, can I take a picture with you, man? He's like, you don't take a picture of me, man. I said, yeah. I just asked that. He like, all right, man, come on and take the picture. And I'm a huge fan of this dude, so no disrespect to him, but he. He don't. I. I don't. You know, I don't think that he did not want to take the picture. I think he was kind of surprised that I wanted to take a picture with him.
Bunny
Who was it? We're gonna bleep the name.
DJ Paul
It was Alpha Karate Kid. The bad guy. What? But this was before they brought the new season back. This was like, you know, when he hadn't did nothing in a while. So this was like. This is in 2000. 10. 2000. Yeah, 2010.
Bunny
Even more reason for him to be nice.
DJ Paul
He was nice. I think he just. I think he. I think he probably thought that I was, like, joking with him or something, right? Maybe some people probably, like, you know. You know how you never know with people these days with the pranks and all this stuff. He's like, you want to take a picture of me, man? I'm like, yeah, I actually do.
Bunny
Like, I wouldn't have asked.
DJ Paul
Like, I wouldn't have asked. Like, I'm a huge fan. Like, dude, don't make me crane kick you around this moment. But, yeah, so, yeah, he was. He. I think he kind of tripped off at. Tripped out at first, but we took the picture. It was cool. And then I had my necklace on, my Oscar necklace on. I was like, yeah, by the way, man, 36 mafia. We. We won an Oscar back. He's like, really? Oh, man. He's like, man. And that's when the conversation got a little cooler.
Bunny
So he probably didn't know who you were at first.
DJ Paul
He didn't know who I was.
Bunny
Okay, gotcha now.
DJ Paul
For sure he didn't know who I was, but sometimes I don't know who I am. I know for. For a fact he didn't know.
Bunny
Do you ever get. Do you ever get imposter syndrome after you've. After everything you've accomplished in this life, all the lore that you have behind you, all the freaking awards and just all the accolades that you have behind you. Do you ever just get imposter syndrome?
DJ Paul
What is that?
Bunny
So what is, like, a definition of imposter syndrome? It's like, you feel like I kind.
DJ Paul
Of know what you.
Bunny
Like you feel like you don't belong here or like you're not supposed to be here? Like you're not deserving all the time.
DJ Paul
All the time. I just had this a couple of days ago. Yeah, so, like, I just had this a couple of days ago where I was like, you know, so, like, I own a lot of properties. That was like, at one point in my career, I got a little nervous. Where. Where. Where I had this was probably, like, in 2013, 14 or somewhere, you know, like, three, six. Might have been gone for a while. Our last album was in 2009. We never made an album after that, but, you know, but I was still making a lot of money. But I. I invested so much cash money into real estate that I got a little nervous. Yeah, I got a little nervous, but it worked. It worked like a. I bought a house in Vegas for $550,000 in the late 2000s. It's so weird because we're still in the 2000s, but then it's kind of.
Bunny
Like, broke down so different.
DJ Paul
So around 2010ish, I bought a house for Vegas, in Vegas for $550,000. Now their house is worth $3 million.
Bunny
Crazy, right?
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
I tell them all the time because I'm a Vegas girl, which I heard you talking about how you lived in Vegas. I don't know how we never. We were all in the same circles. I heard you say that you loved Robin Leach.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Lifestyles of Richard Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams, maybe. Are you kidding me? When I heard that, I was like, yes. Because nobody knows that, you know, unless you were in Vegas and experienced it and actually got to watch it on TV growing up.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Like, not a lot of people know about that. So I don't know how we didn't run into each other in Vegas because we were always around the same circles.
DJ Paul
Yeah. I don't know how either.
Bunny
It was crazy. And Robin Leach, if you ever partied with him, he was.
DJ Paul
Twice, bro.
Bunny
He partied.
DJ Paul
Yeah. He parted. And I told him the same story every time I saw him, about how I was 12 years old and I. My whole life is because of him.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
So back to the imposter syndrome or whatever you call.
Bunny
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
DJ Paul
I. I spent all this money into real estate, and I got a little nervous, you know, this and that. And it got to the point where. Where I started feeling that, like, all of this, these investment properties that I bought, that if I went and bought myself a big house and I was living in a big house in Vegas, I still own this house. If I was. If I went to buy another big house for myself somewhere outside of Vegas, because I was getting sick of being there all the time, I was thinking that. I really did. I was like, do I really deserve this? I'm like, Yeah, I work hard. I do, but then I kind of don't. But then I was like, you know, you just start thinking about, like, like, like, you know. Yeah. Do you do. Do you really deserve it?
Bunny
Yeah, no, I get. I do it all the time. Like, my husband tells me all the time, Jay. Because he, he deals with it better than I do. Like, I swear, Jay's built for frickin to be a politician. He remembers everybody's.
DJ Paul
He will be.
Bunny
Yeah, he remembers. Please don't speak that in our life. But he literally can, like, shake hands and kiss babies all day long. And I just feel like. I don't know, sometimes I feel like I don't belong there, you know? And he's like, baby, you have to realize, like, you've worked this hard and you have worked so hard and, like, created such a fricking legacy that if anybody deserves to buy as many houses as they want, it's you. You can never go wrong with land or real estate, dude.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Yeah, you can. Yeah, you can't. It's just, it's. It's the thing. Like, I. I just wish more. More young celebrities, rappers, actors, you know, podcasts, whatever you're doing, whatever you're doing in life, just like, put more money into real estate. I preach it enough. Every interview I've ever did, from this person to that person, I always said, like, this, the jury, this and that. Like, I got a couple of pieces of jewelry, you know, I got. The jury is just for show with me. It's just for show. When I put this on for this podcast, I had to dig and find shit. We came over here with this shit in a Ziploc bag, right? I don't even have the cool stuff to put it in. Like the little watch things on the countertop that turn the Rolexes to keep. Man, my Rolex is in a crown roll bag. Like, I have traveled.
Bunny
I have traveled. Every time we go on tour, my jewelry's in a. In a Ziploc bag or a crown Royal bag. We had a crown royal bag too.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Swear to God.
DJ Paul
Crown robot. I did a YouTube maybe three months ago about a crown Royal bag, and it. It basically went viral. People like, holy. Have you ever seen the orange one and the special edition? I like, man, all I know is the purple one.
Bunny
Yeah, me too.
DJ Paul
Everybody start talking about all these limited edition ones. I never even know, but yeah, never. I got a. I got a little jury just for. Just for show, you know, I was. I was in tour in Houston. You're from Houston, right?
Bunny
Yes, yes.
DJ Paul
Touring in Houston. Went by TV Johnny, you know, and I was like, yeah, you know, the tour been good. I've been touring for three months. I guess I gave myself a little necklace and bought this little, you know, Cuban link or whatever. But I don't wear this around this. And yeah, I put all of my money into to, you know, real estate and an investment. I'm on the inside. Everybody will tell you I'm against the rapper on the outside, but on the inside I think I'm like a 65 year old white woman. I watch H. I watch HGTV in the food Network all the time. When I'm in my studio, my whole YouTube is just home decorations. Three hours of the best looking mansions and this and that. I'm just taking pictures. Like that's why when I walked in here, I'm like, hey man, what's the name of this wallpaper? I want to get, I want to get some of this, man. I like those ficus trees you got outside. I'm that dude.
Bunny
I love that. But okay, so what was your first piece of property that you ever bought?
DJ Paul
It was in an area out of Memphis called Cordova, Tennessee. And you know, now it's, I heard it's all crazy as hell now, but yeah, back then we talking about 1997, man. Juicy bought two houses right next door to each other.
Bunny
A.
DJ Paul
And it was. No, it was nobody out there. It was nobody out there. That was, that was the first one.
Bunny
That's amazing though. And did you end up flipping it and just selling it? Yeah, I love that.
DJ Paul
But I don't flip houses no more. No, I keep them and I rent them.
Bunny
Oh, that's good though. Yeah.
DJ Paul
Because when you flip them, you got a passive income capital gain and all that. If it's less than two years or whatever, this and that, but. And that's, you know, that's, that's money out of your pocket right there. So I was watching this infomercial one night and this infomercial said when you, when you, when you pass away, you can't always leave your talents to your kids. Because, you know, I don't want my kids to be rappers any way. But you can't always leave your talents to your kids, but you can't leave property to your kids. When I saw him say that, that stuck in me. I was like, man, that's the truth. Like, it's real. Yeah, no, that is real. And now I, I read, I don't know if you've seen this. I read that they trying to they trying to turn America kind of like what it is in China, where they call it Forever Rentals.
Bunny
No, Educate me, please.
DJ Paul
I've never heard of Forever Forever Rentals. So like some, some, some Wall street guys just went about like 1500 homes in, in Vegas that they turned into just rentals. You can't buy them. You can only rent them.
Bunny
Forever.
DJ Paul
Forever. Yeah.
Bunny
How? Like, so they just don't sell them.
DJ Paul
Like, they won't sell them.
Bunny
Okay, gotcha.
DJ Paul
So if you want to live in them, you got to rent it for the rest of your life. You'll never have equity. You know, it's like that, that, that dude, some dude said this at one point. He said, in the future you will own nothing and be happy. You know, and that's, that's what's really going on.
Bunny
Wow.
DJ Paul
This was really going on. Like, I look at some condo buildings and some of these condo buildings, you'll go to them. You're like, oh man, it's a nice condo. Like, how much are these? And they'll be like, they're not for sale. They only for rent. I'm like, really? I'm like, this don't look like an apartment. This look like a condo. They're like, well, it started out to be a condo, but then the owners changed, the investors changed their mind and said they wanted to be apartments.
Bunny
So the investors are from other countries though, or is it American investors also?
DJ Paul
Who knows?
Bunny
Okay, gotcha.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I don't know. I'm just, I'm just saying it's a lot of these are popping up. Like they got a real popular building in basically Beverly Hills in la. I'm sure you've passed it a million times. It's on Santa Monica Boulevard. As soon as you turn it. As soon as Santa Monica split with big Santa Monica and little Santa Monica going into Beverly Hills. It's a big building right there called the 10,000 building. I've seen tons of celebrities in this building. And a one bedroom started. $10,000 a month all the way up to the top one with his own pool. That's $65,000 a month rent. You can't buy these.
Bunny
Wow. I would, I could never, I would feel sick to my stomach if I was just paying somebody else's rent.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it's cool for six months. If you relocate and you're like, I want to live in Beverly Hills and I want to see how it is. I want to go to the mall and this and that. $10,000 a month. But you can afford that if you if you moving over there, I hope you can.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
You hustling backwards if you're not.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
So $10,000 a month to live in that area and get a feel of it before you go to spend $5 million or something. That makes sense. Yeah, that makes sense. But, you know, like, doing that forever.
Bunny
No.
DJ Paul
Only way that makes sense is if you got the rest of that money in the best investments in the world.
Bunny
Yeah, but I mean, even that seems just so frivolous, though, to, like, want to just. I mean, if you're blowing 65 grand a month on rent, you obviously have it now.
DJ Paul
That don't make sense in no way.
Bunny
But I mean. But I mean, if you can afford it, then obviously you can. You can make it work somehow. But not forever.
DJ Paul
No.
Bunny
Like, there's no way.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it's crazy.
Bunny
No, that would. That would. I couldn't do that. So I wanted to kind of bring my listeners on a journey with you because you have so much lore to you, and I wanted to kind of, you know, take it back to your childhood in Memphis growing up, you know, tell me what that was like. I know you've told this story a million times, but I know there's a bunch of listeners that probably are just getting to know you from my podcast. I really just want to paint that picture of where you came from to where you are now growing up in Memphis. Take me on that ride. Because it was in the 80s and 90s, right?
DJ Paul
Yeah, yeah. I grew up in Memphis in the. Yeah. 80s and 90s, and the 80s and 90s were elite. Yeah, it was the best.
Bunny
I was born in 80, so, I mean, there's nothing that compares from 80 to the 2000s, dude.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it was the best, man. You know, like, it's the best time. Like, I was just talking about this to my friend a couple of days ago. Like, I like watching these. Watching these movies, are looking at these pictures of all of the, you know, not to. And some people look at this and be like, oh, why is he glamorizing, you know, drug dealers and this and that. But it's not about.
Bunny
That's your.
DJ Paul
It's not about the drug dealers. It's just about the whole swag of that.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
In the 80s, like, when you watch the Paid in Full movie.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And you see the troop jackets and the eight ball Jack. You remember the eight ball jacket dude jackets. Yes, the, you know, the Kango.
Bunny
The ambiance of. Of that generation was just insane.
DJ Paul
Yeah. And. And the old 500 Mercedes with the skirts on.
Bunny
It. Yes, yes.
DJ Paul
AMG wheels. I mean, a lot of this stuff is still around and happening today.
Bunny
They just don't know it's modernized.
DJ Paul
Modernized. So like, you know, like these Louis Vuitton and Gucci bags, it was the same designs back then.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
So, you know, like, I grew up in that. My brother was a big drug dealer. He went to federal prison.
Bunny
How many brothers and sisters do you have? Because I, I couldn't find a, of an answer on that when I googled that.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I'm still looking for that answer myself actually.
Bunny
Okay, gotcha. I love it though.
DJ Paul
Yeah, a lot. I got 6ish. 6ish brothers because my, my mom and my dad, they had, you know, kids, you know, separately. But I got around six, six, seven brothers and, you know, four sisters. Ish.
Bunny
Wow.
DJ Paul
Ish.
Bunny
But you're gonna have a bunch of people reaching out to you after this interview. Hey, I'm your brother. I'm your sister.
DJ Paul
Yeah, yeah. Or ones that I noticed. My brother. No, you got this many brothers. So, you know, I grew up in that world. I grew up in that world. My brother was, you know, in that world and you know, all his friends. So I was a kid, you know, looking at all that. I'm looking at new Mercedes pull up, new Corvettes pull up to the house and this and that. I'm just like, man. And then I went to school down the street from this house of these big drug dealers in Memphis. Like the most popular drug dealers in Memphis history.
Bunny
Wow.
DJ Paul
At a house on, on the exact street that my junior high school was at.
Bunny
So you grew up around hustling? Yeah, like you just saw it from the day.
DJ Paul
Every day. Every day. I saw just a driveway full of Corvettes and Mercedes and this and that, you know, not at my parents house, but like my brother's house and the houses in the neighborhood. Yeah, all these guys was in my neighborhood.
Bunny
What's some, what's one of the wildest things you saw growing up in Memphis during that time as a child that.
DJ Paul
I saw or heard about that like.
Bunny
Left an imprint on you. Something that left an imprint on you?
DJ Paul
Oh, this guy, this guy got killed for 34 in a, in a, in a, in a dice game upstream from my auntie house. That right there, that, that right there let me know that people would do anything for anything.
Bunny
Wow. What a life lesson to take with you at a young, as a young child.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I didn't physically see it. I was there. It happened up the street. You know, my family members started running this and that. And people was running all that. And I was like, what happened? They're like, you know, God just got. But that happened a lot in the 80s, you know, people getting killed over dice games. Man, that's a lot of people dead or a dice game.
Bunny
Yeah, no, all the.
DJ Paul
Because you walking around. You could walk around, these two little cubes in your pocket, and that would be your meal for the day if you knew how to play.
Bunny
Yeah, absolutely. I grew up in Vegas, so everybody had dice in their hands.
DJ Paul
All the boys had dice. Man, if you ain't got nothing. Yeah, you could make you a few dollars off dice.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
So that dude that killed that dude over 34, he probably look. And, man, back then, a. A combo meal was like $4.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
So he had. Man, he had about a week's worth of food he lost right there.
Bunny
Oh, man.
DJ Paul
Sad.
Bunny
That is sad. I hate that.
DJ Paul
That was. That right there. Said it for. Said that set the tone for me.
Bunny
How close were you with your brothers and sisters growing up?
DJ Paul
Super close.
Bunny
All of them, or.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I was living well. I was. I was the youngest. When I. When I was born, it was only two brothers still living in the house, but my sister lived next door, and all of us kind of lived in the same neighborhood.
Bunny
So you're the baby.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
I never knew that about you.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I'm the baby.
Bunny
I love that.
DJ Paul
The youngest in charge.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
Special Ed.
Bunny
What was your relationship with your mom? Because I know you've touched base on that a couple times.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it was real good. It was real good. You know, I live with my mom almost. You know, I was. I live with my mom all the way up to the point we recorded our old three 6 Mafia albums in my mom's house.
Bunny
Wow.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Not all of them, but, like. Yeah, all of the underground. All of the underground stuff was recorded in my mom's house. So everybody met my mom, even some guys who I'm not cool with, who was never even a part of our group.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
Been in my house at least probably one time recording, and met my mom. Everybody met my mom. Mom was super, super cool. Me and my mom had a super close relationship, and my dad had. When my dad passed away, I bought my mom a house.
Bunny
How old were you when your father passed?
DJ Paul
Probably like, 30 some.
Bunny
Oh, okay. So it was when you were older.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
It wasn't when you were a child. Okay.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Both of them passing. I was in my 30s now, my dad in my 20s, my mom in my 30s.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Was mom always supportive of your choice in doing Music.
DJ Paul
Oh yes.
Bunny
Yeah, she loved it.
DJ Paul
Used to take me to the organ lessons. I played. I took organ lessons.
Bunny
Oh, I love that. Can you still play?
DJ Paul
Yeah, of course. I still play on all our. All of my music.
Bunny
Where did your inspiration and your drive to want to do music come from?
DJ Paul
I. So we was the only. My dad owned a company. So we. Even though we lived in a bad neighborhood, we was one of the people who had the better house in the bad neighborhood.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
So like we was the ones when you riding through the bad neighborhood and you see. You see where they built on the back of the house? That happened all the time in the hood.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Like instead of buying a big house, they just built on the back of the house.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
Didn't even match. It would be a different color, different material. Front of house would be brick, the back of it would be wood, whatever. Yeah, I lived in one of those houses and my daddy built on like an extra few bedrooms and a whole nother den in the back for my brothers. So we had cable when cable first came out. You know, we had cable. So I would be sitting on. On the floor. On the floor like this close to the TV watching MTV when it first came out. I remember when MTV first came.
Bunny
I wish they would bring MTV back. It just the nostalgia alone.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Like.
DJ Paul
Yeah, but if they bring it back, they should just play oh not no solution.
Bunny
Yeah. I feel like there's no. We'll get to that later. But yeah, for sure. The music nowadays is just. It's not like it used to be.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it's some good music out but you know, it's just. It's different. Yeah. We're getting never.
Bunny
Never going to compare.
DJ Paul
But I. I was planning in front of the tv watching mtv, you know, watching all these guys. I grew up on rock music and I think that's what contribute to making the three six mafia sound and the. Excuse me, the rowdiness and the wildness like tear the club up, hit A and stuff like that. It's. It came from me growing up on rock music.
Bunny
What was like your favorite rock band growing up?
DJ Paul
What were some Van Halen.
Bunny
Yes. That's the first CD I ever stole. Was available and got caught was stealing a Van Halen cd.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I just bought a Eddie van had EVH guitar.
Bunny
Oh dog.
DJ Paul
I got at the house now I gotta hang up. I got a huge guitar collection. But those. You know, jump was one of my favorite songs. Still is one of my favorite songs of all time.
Bunny
The guitars and that is insane.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
In a sense and the synthesizers.
DJ Paul
Yeah, the synthesizer. Because a lot of these rock groups back in the day, they didn't have keyboard players. They just relied on guitars and drums. But I liked when they added, you know, some keys in there.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Because I'm a keyboard player.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
So that was, was. That was dope on the end.
Bunny
So just watching mtv, your mom, you know.
DJ Paul
Oh. And I had. I'm sorry, I'm gonna cut y'. All. Yeah, my God. My uncles had a. A gospel group.
Bunny
Yes. I was just about to get to that. Did you ever get to sing with them? And what were they called?
DJ Paul
They were called the Bogard Brothers.
Bunny
The Bogard Brothers.
DJ Paul
And I, I never. No, I never even seen them perform. I was too young.
Bunny
Oh, okay.
DJ Paul
But, but my uncle taught me about.
Bunny
Publishing and at a young age.
DJ Paul
Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, he talking about publishing. That's, that's, that will save my life.
Bunny
I feel like that's like knowledge that you're gonna take with you forever. I always say, like in high school they should treat, they should teach like a credit and business class because literally you'll. And like learn how to balance your checkbooks and stuff like that. Because little gems like that of what he taught you, you. You've carried through life.
DJ Paul
Yeah, but it don't work like that because they don't want you to. They don't want you to win. Win. They. Right, they make more money off you losing, right?
Bunny
Well, yeah, just like the health system, they keep you sick, you know, so. Yeah, totally.
DJ Paul
Yeah, they make more money off of that. So.
Bunny
So you never got to see the Bogard brothers perform?
DJ Paul
Nah.
Bunny
Okay, but did you grow up listening to their music?
DJ Paul
Yes. Oh, yeah. They was jamming.
Bunny
Yeah. Love that. So you decided to start DJing when you were in 10th grade. You know what doesn't belong in your epic summer plans? Getting burned by your old wireless bill. While you're planning beach trips, barbecues, and three day weekends, your wireless bill should be the last thing holding you back. That's why I made the switch to Mint Mobile. With Mint, you can get the coverage and speed you're used to, but for way less money. And for a limited time, Mint mobile is offering three months of unlimited premium wireless service for 15 bucks a month. So while your friends are sweating over data overages and surprise charges, you'll be chilling. Literally and financially. Say bye bye to your overpriced wireless plans, jaw dropping monthly bills and unexpected overages, Mint Mobile is here to rescue you. All plans come with high speed data and unlimited talk. And text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network. Use your own phone with any Mint Mobile plan and bring your phone number along with all your existing contacts. Ditch overpriced wireless and get three months of unlimited service from Mint Mobile for 15 bucks a month. Okay Real talk I switched to Mint Mobile from my old provider and the service has been just as good. Actually, sometimes even better. The coverage is solid, calls are clear, and I'm not constantly stressing about dropped connections. Plus plus the savings huge. I'm talking way less on my phone bill without sacrificing quality. Honestly, I use Mint Mobile and you should too. If you want great service and a way better deal this year. Skip breaking a sweat and breaking the bank. Get this new customer offer in your three month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com bunny that's mintmobile.com v u n n I e upfront payment of $45 required equivalent to $15 a month limited time new customer offer for speeds May slow above 35 gigabytes on unlimited plan taxes and fees. Extra cement Mobile for details okay, confession time. I used to think budget was a fancy word for suggestion. Then I realized my daily snack attacks and impulse buys were totally trashing my savings. That's when I found Chime. No fees, no drama, just a smart way to keep my spending in check and still enjoy life. If you want to adult your money without feeling like a total buzzkill, Chimes your new best friend. Now through Chime you can be smarter about how you manage your credit scores. Build credit history with everyday purchases and regular on time payments. Plus get access to credit tracking tools and personalized tips for a stress free credit experience, all without credit checks, minimum deposits, annual fees or interest. Visit chime.com bunny to get started. I used to not think much about my credit until I realized it's what opens doors to better opportunities and easier approvals. Chime makes building credit simple and stress free so you can adult without the drama. One credit that actually works for you, Try Chime with the Chime Credit Builder Secured Visa credit card, you get the tools designed to help you build, protect and maintain your credit with less stress and increase your credit scores with automatic credit reporting. Make everyday purchases count with Chime Secured Credit Builder Visa Credit Card get started today@chime.com Bunny Chime feels like progress. The Chime Credit Builder Visa credit card is issued by the Bank Report bank and a or straight bank and a Chime checking account required to apply. Money added to Credit Builder will be held in your secure deposit account as collateral. And is your credit builder cards available to spend amount. This is money you can use to pay half your monthly charges out of network ATM withdrawal and oc. Advance fees may apply. Late payment may negatively impact your credit score. Results may vary. Go to time.comdisclosures for details.
DJ Paul
Yeah, 10th grade. So basically at 10th grade, I brought out our first. Our first EP. Men Lord FMC was called the Serial Killers.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
And then I started DJing as a way just to promote our music, Right. So I would make mixtapes where I would be playing like the hottest artists like nwa, El Cool J, Public Enemy, whatever, whatever. And then I would ease in one of our songs.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
And then I would come to school the next day and they'd be like, hey, man, what was that fourth song on there? I'm like, I gotta think. I don't know. That was me.
Bunny
You like it, huh?
DJ Paul
You like it? Huh?
Bunny
Huh?
DJ Paul
It works. It works. Oh, we got something. Yeah. So that was my way of promoting and it eventually turned into just our songs.
Bunny
Yes. I love that. Can we dive into you and Lord Infamous a little bit? Because that's your half brother, correct?
DJ Paul
Yeah. Yeah.
Bunny
You guys were extremely close growing up.
DJ Paul
Yeah, yeah, he.
Bunny
And was it you or was it him that brought the horror core? Because who was the. Who was really?
DJ Paul
Both of us.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
So both of us love to watch horror movies.
Bunny
What's your favorite one?
DJ Paul
Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Original.
Bunny
Okay, gotcha. Yeah, that's Mimi's over there.
DJ Paul
Not to be bringing up Texas, because you hear. But no, even if he wasn't here, that's one of my favorite.
Bunny
I didn't even think about it like that. I love it.
DJ Paul
That's a great movie. Yeah, it was loosely based off a true story, which I like True crime. Yeah, I watched True crime all day.
Bunny
Oh. Literally, Jay and I fall asleep watching it. I'm obsessed with it. Yeah, you guys were the original people who. Who started that. Because I remember back in the day, whenever I first heard about you guys, it was like, you, brother Lynch Bone came along and started their, like, dark occultic stuff too. And then maybe spice one a little bit, you know, like. So, I mean, there wasn't too many people who were dabbling in that. Were you guys practicing behind the scenes or was it just something that you guys were into? Like, you know, the. The cultic themes and stuff like that?
DJ Paul
Yeah, we was just into. We were just into horror movies. And, you know, growing up in Memphis, you know, you kind of live in a horror movie. Yeah, it Rains a lot, and it's just a dark city. And I think that's the reason why the music is so great.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
Has always been great out of that city, you know, so we grew up, you know, watching horror movies. And then I had a guy, a long time ago, give me a serial killers book. The old Time Life magazine. You remember them? Time Life, yes. And they would be running the commercials at night, like, oh, you can get this. World War II.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
They say you need to send you all these books in the mail. Where? Well, they had a collection of serial killers, serial killer books. And this. This guy I know, he. He came across one some kind of way. I was like, hey, man, ain't the collection, like, 12 books? Like, I ain't got 12. I got this one. You want it or not? I'm like, yeah, I want it. Get to me. And I had that one little serial killer book, and I studied it. I studied it. So. And like, right now, I got a collection of all of the serial killers. Framed black and white photos, black frames, black and white photos of all of the serial killers in my house. And I started studying serial killers.
Bunny
It's kind of like it just not. I don't want to say obsession, but a fixation, possibly.
DJ Paul
Yeah. You know what I just got into? How, you know, obviously they did terrible, terrible things.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
But what I more got into was the organization of it. Right, the organization of it. You know, like, you had guys that, you know, like, I'm only going, you know, like the Zodiac Killer. Like, yeah, only this person with this birthday, like, if I go up and this person got a different birthday, then I'm gonna let this person live or whatever. This is all fucked up, people. Don't get me wrong, but it was just. It was just something about the organization of it. They. They got in. They got into my head.
Bunny
No, I. I understand it because I actually. I don't know if you saw, but I got in trouble for wanting to bring a murderer on the podcast, and that was a whole debacle that I had to learn from in this generation now. But, you know, back in the day, I. I loved to figure out what made them tick, you know?
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
What makes you want to take somebody's life?
DJ Paul
Life?
Bunny
How can you eat somebody?
DJ Paul
You know?
Bunny
Like, if I had a chance to sit down with Jeffrey Dahmer, I would do it, you know, like, get inside his head and try to figure it out. I think it's just. It's so morbid and so taboo that people are drawn to it because we're just like, how did this happen? You know? Like.
DJ Paul
Yeah, like, what the figure. Do this? Yeah.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
What made you do this? And, like, you. What. More what I'm. What. What I'm more curious about is a lot of these dudes had full families at home.
Bunny
Crazy, right?
DJ Paul
And I'm like, what did your wife. What did you. Like, I'm not trying to.
Bunny
How did your wife not know?
DJ Paul
Yeah, like, I'm not trying to cheat on my girl or not, but what excuse was you using to be gone all night? Like, we kind of like. Yeah, imagine that. The. The Ted Bundy book of excuses for your wife.
Bunny
Yes. Yeah.
DJ Paul
Like. Like, dude, what was you telling your wife when you was gone all night and you was sleeping with three dead bodies next. Next to a lake? Like, when you came home? Like, I'm sure you smell like hell.
Bunny
Yeah. Yeah. Like, just energy. Like, how do you even. How do you go from murdering somebody and the most heinous way to going home and being a doting father and husband?
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
It's insane to me. Like, how do you make that switch?
DJ Paul
Well, one thing about it is most serial killers, you know, not to get into racism or none, but most serial killers was white. Because black serial killers couldn't have did that. Because when you come home to a black woman, she'd be like, let me smell your dick.
Bunny
Yeah, absolutely.
DJ Paul
Ted Bundy ass would have been busted just off a dick smell. Saved so many lives.
Bunny
No, you're so real. You're so real. Who did that skit Let Me Smell youl Dick? I forget. There was a comedian who did the Let me smell you dick, and I fucking lost it.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I didn't see that. But that happens in real life with black women.
Bunny
I'll have to send it to you. No, I. I believe it 100%. So taking it back to you and lord infamous, in 89, you guys dropped the serial killers together. He would rap and you would make the beats.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I wrapped on, like, one or two songs.
Bunny
Did you not want to rap? Did you not want to rap?
DJ Paul
No, I didn't. I still don't want to rap.
Bunny
Really?
DJ Paul
I hate rapping.
Bunny
Stop it.
DJ Paul
I can make beats all day. I can make a beat right here doing this interview. I love making beats. I can. If it was up to me, you know, like, I would. I would sit up and make beats 24 hours a day if I could. I just have other businesses and stuff, but. Well, I hate writing raps. To sit down and write a rap, you got to think about, like, oh, what kind of shoes are these little wearing and what's the new sands? And like, I don't know.
Bunny
I would think that making a beat would be way more intricate than making a rap.
DJ Paul
Rap. Well, it just depends on the person, right? You know, like you got, you got some people that could make a rap so easy just because. Because the word play is just in them or whatever. And then you got some people that just music is in them. It's easier to make. Yeah, to make music. Because when it comes to music. Excuse me, you're okay. When it comes to music, what makes music more easier is because music just really nothing gets a lyricist. But, but music just kind of comes from the heart and from the rhythm and then you give it to the lyricist and you let him write about what he think the people want to hear.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
Like a musician don't, don't really go in and make a beat because people want to hear this. And if they do, they probably making a mistake. You just go in and you just make what feels right. And then that's why a lot of musicians end up with a lot of beasts that never see the face of the earth. Because us, they'd be like, ah, this sounds good, but I think I'm the only person in the world who actually liked us. You can't dance to this and you can't do this and do that, blah, blah, blah. But they just never know. Sometimes just a simple instrumental to be something for people to clean the house to or do homework too or whatever. I think that's why the lo fi is so popular now, all that. But with, with songs, writing the lyrics and coming up with hooks and coming up with choruses, there's got to be something that's going to drive people in a way, you know, like you gotta drive them like, you know, like if you're a good lyricist, you can take just a simple drum beat with a kick snare and a high hat and, and spit the right, the right vocals over the top of it and people gonna go crazy.
Bunny
Right?
DJ Paul
But if you walk in here with just a drumbeat with, with nothing over the top of other people, they're gonna be like, okay, some. Is it gonna do something else or is this it?
Bunny
So it's like the beat is a vibe and the lyrics are the energy.
DJ Paul
The, the. The beat is the energy.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
And the lyrics are. The vibe is what keep them, keep their attention.
Bunny
Gotcha.
DJ Paul
And, and, and find the spot. Find the sweet spot.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Whether it's an emotional record or it's an energetic record.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
This and that. It's only so much music and music and can give you feeling, obviously.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
But then, you know, after a while, you kind of. Kind of want to know what's. What else is going on.
Bunny
Yeah, absolutely.
DJ Paul
Sometimes. Sometimes not.
Bunny
When you explain it that way, it makes perfect sense bringing it back to you. And Lord Infamous, can you give me a memory with him that you've never told anyone but you still think about?
DJ Paul
I don't have to think. Oh.
Bunny
We can always circle back.
DJ Paul
I'll probably wait to tell that one.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
I say them for the. For the Paul movie.
Bunny
I got you. I got you. I got you. So around this time when you're. You're dropping these mixtapes and you and Lord Infamous are doing these songs together. When does Juicy J come on the scene? When do you meet juicy j?
DJ Paul
About two years later. Like 92. Maybe late 91. I just said 92 to be on the safe side. Another guy who I was producing was friends with Juicy. Okay. And he told me about Juicy. He was like, hey, it's a dude. I had heard of Juicy through his mixtapes, but I didn't know him personally. And I would just see his tapes when I would go drop off my tapes at the stereo stores. And he was like, this dude named name of Juicy J. Want you to help him make some. Want to make some beasts with you. Because Juicy didn't really play the keyboard. I played the keyboard, Right? So he was like, he wants you to, you know, help him make some beats, this and that. So, you know, he started coming over my house and I would help him make some beats. And then we started finding that we had a groove that we vibed together really good on making beats, you know, and then it just went from there.
Bunny
So you guys pretty much just had a love of music together, and then that developed the friendship between you guys. How was you guys's friendship when you guys were younger? Was it always like best friends? Or did you guys actually, like, you know, kind of like, butt heads because it was creative direction?
DJ Paul
No, we never butt heads.
Bunny
Oh, good.
DJ Paul
We never butt heads, you know, like, he. I would always listen to what he had to say, and he would always listen to what. What. What I had to say. And we just, like, we just kind of went with the flow because we saw that it. That it. That it worked right? You know, so if I'd be like, no, I don't think we should do it like this. We should do it like that. And he was like, that's cool. And then, you know, Vice versa. And we just. And it just like that quit. Because if you start putting, you know, too much disagreeing with it, then it's just. It was. It's probably not meant to be anyway.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
You know, so we never. We never had that. We never had that issue.
Bunny
I love that it was always fluid for you guys.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
You guys have, you know, publicly said that you guys were speaking about drugs before, like anybody else was speaking about drugs in the industry. You guys were very vocal about it. When did your drug use start?
DJ Paul
Oh, God. Oh, what, like weed or the hard stuff?
Bunny
I mean, just your journey.
DJ Paul
We started in. We started in seventh grade.
Bunny
Wow.
DJ Paul
I sold weed in the seventh grade because joints.
Bunny
You were just a product of your environment, of how. What you saw growing up.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Because back in the day, we was like. It was like scraps.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
You know, so like, my. My brothers and everybody that was in the. That was in the game, like keys and all that was. Was where the money at. Like, they would throw away weed. Like, we were just like. Like here. We would just be laying around the house. They're like, like, oh, damn, we go a pound of weed. Yeah. They don't even see this. Nobody cared about weed back then, right? Like that.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
You know, like, now people are making millions of dollars off we. But back in those days, like, we get out here, don't buy one. No weed.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Because the. The. The. The. The rich man's drug was cocaine.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
Yeah. I want nobody trying to go to sleep.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
He was trying to stay up and. And party.
Bunny
The 80s for sure.
DJ Paul
And like, like, like, come on, man. You mean to. To go to sleep? I don't need to pay to go to sleep. I can do that on my own.
Bunny
Yeah. Nope, I agree. So you started smoking weed in seventh grade, and then when did. When did it start progressing?
DJ Paul
It started progressing when our first album came out.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
The album right there. Mystic styles on that football behind your head.
Bunny
Okay, so it started progressing after three six Mafia.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Okay, so let's. Let's circle back then. So you meet just Juicy J. You guys are vibing. Lord Infamous is in on this. You guys decide what if gangsta boost up on the scene.
DJ Paul
Oh, like 93ish.
Bunny
Okay. So she was like, right behind. Right behind. Juicy.
DJ Paul
Yeah, Yeah.
Bunny
I. I rest in peace, boo. We. I got to meet her the one time that she came and did my podcast, and she almost beat me up.
DJ Paul
Really? What?
Bunny
On the podcast, I was so nervous because I was still new to the podcast thing. That's why I'm glad you're here now because, you know, if I'd have interviewed you a couple years ago, I was just so nervous, and I just wanted to do perfect with her. And I forgot her first album name, and I had to look down at my notes and she's. And she flipped out.
DJ Paul
Ooh, I can imagine. I can imagine. I can imagine. I know, Boo. It don't take much.
Bunny
She flipped out. Country was there. Country got scared and thought he was gonna have to break up a fight. Like it was crazy. But then by the end of the interview, she was my best friend.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Yeah. She flipped like that.
Bunny
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it was crazy.
DJ Paul
Yeah. She would flip like that.
Bunny
Yeah. So how did Boo become a part of 3 6?
DJ Paul
We went to school together.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
All of us went to school together except Juicy. Juicy was from the north side.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
All the rest of us was from the south side.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
Yeah. So we went. We went to school together.
Bunny
Yay. I love that. So we got all these members now, and then you guys decide to form Three Six Mafia?
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
How did you guys come up with the name Three Six Mafia? Because that. There's been so much speculation to you guys's name. Because it does happen. Have 666 in it.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it came from that.
Bunny
Okay, tell me.
DJ Paul
Basically, Lord Infamous has said Triple Six Mafia in a song that wasn't even our group name. He just said it. He was just like a Triple Six Mafia silencer, you know, it said something like that. And I like that. And I was like, whoa, that's dope. And I just started sampling Triple Six Mafia Mafia. And that became really popular with us. And that still wasn't our name game.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
I would just sample that. And then, you know, when it was time to form a group, I was like, hey, we should call ourselves Triple Six Mafia. And everybody liked it. And then next thing I know, white fans came like that. They flocked to us. Next thing I know, we got a call to do a show in Bartlett, Tennessee. I'm like, bartlett, Tennessee? I'm like, I don't even know black folks can go out there. And then next thing I know, we just started doing on shows in number white clubs.
Bunny
Really? After you named the group Three Six Mafia? Triple Six Triple Six Mafia?
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
That's crazy. I know. Lord Infamous has gone on record to say that he dabbled in like satanism and all that stuff.
DJ Paul
Yeah, he didn't do that. For real.
Bunny
He didn't.
DJ Paul
Hell no.
Bunny
I just watched an interview with him last night where he was talking about how he went to hell, and demons were torturing him. And, like, it was crazy. And I was.
DJ Paul
Yeah, he was just high.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
I grew up singing Amazing Grace in the church, and I was playing the organ. Everybody know that. That church every Sunday in Mississippi. It don't get no more churcher than a Mississippi church.
Bunny
Yeah, for sure. I love that you call him out like that, though. You're like, no, that's my brother. Nope. He grew up singing Amazing Grace. So there was no real satanic reasoning behind the name.
DJ Paul
No.
Bunny
The lore has always just kind of like your reputation precedes you.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Yeah, it was just. It was just an image. It was just. Yeah, it was just something that was cool.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
Like. Like I said, we did, you know, study, like, killers and stuff like that, but, yeah, we never studied Satan. I don't know nothing about all that.
Bunny
Yeah. So from 90 to 94, you guys ended up dropping 16 mixtapes you by yourself, and then also with three, six or triple six. Correct.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Okay. So take me on this journey. What's like an insane. An insane story from the early days of three six Mafia that's never been told. Like a fight, a robbery, a wild tour moment.
DJ Paul
We got into. We got into. Oh, my God. We had. We had a crazy one at a skating ring in Arkansas. Man, that one right there was wild.
Bunny
Really?
DJ Paul
Yeah. It was a skating ring in Arkansas. West Memphis. West Memphis, Arkansas, they used to always have rap concerts there. And, man, we went there one day, and behind the scenes, we was. We had a little situation going on with some guys from Arkansas, but that ended up getting, you know, squashed. We was all just young or whatever, but, you know, we end up getting super, super love from that part. It was just that little one part of Arkansas, but for whatever. Whatever reason back in the day, Arkansas and Memphis, people back in the 90s. Not no more. They always got into it. I don't know what it was. Was, but. So we went to. We went to West Memphis, Arkansas, to do this concert, and next thing I know, it's like 900 people that. Next thing I know, the somebody in the crowd had threw a skate at us. It was a skating ring through a skate. And I was like, okay, here we go. I knew this was gonna come. And I was like, all right, I'm. I'm not gonna pay attention to this one. Kept on rapping. Somebody threw another skate. I said, hey, y' all keep throwing these skates, man. We're gonna leave. So rapping 3. Most songs came on. Somebody threw another skate. I was like, all right, I'm out of here. We started leaving about that. Next thing I know, these 900 people start surrounding us, following behind us. Crunchy turned around and pulled out a gun like this. Like, get back this and that. So they said back. We went up in the dressing room. We went up in the office. We went up in the office of the promoter. They started beating on, though. Boom. Come out of that. Come out of that crutch, open the door, put a gun, and bang. Back like that. And we was looking at the cameras. They was surrounded outside the dough. I'm like, bro. I was like, you know, I told the dude. I was like, look, you can call the police or we can shoot our way up out of this, whichever way you want to do it. Because we got. It's four of us, and all of us got now. It's now probably like eight of us. I said, it's eight of us, and everybody in here got a gun on.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
So you just let me know how you want us to get up out of here.
Bunny
A bunch of Memphis gangsters, too.
DJ Paul
Yeah, yeah. Like, everybody. Three, six. Michael was in some. In a. In a gang or some crazy. So I'm like, look, dude is, you know, you call the police and get us up out of here, or we can get ourself up out of here. This and that. This man picked up the phone. He looked at me, he said, the phones are dead. No, I said, what? I like, what kind of preset 13 movie is that? Like, how is the phones dead? I like, there's no way. They climbed up on the roof and cut the phone. I like, you know, all right, where. Get out. So myself up out of here. Listen, that. We opened the door and we just, you know, we just, like, didn't pull them out, but we just kind of like to just showing them with our hands up under there. We made our way to the car, man, and punched that motherfucker. Punched.
Bunny
Were you guys, like, inside. Were you guys, like, trembling? Like. It's one thing to have to portray something to the outside.
DJ Paul
Was we. Was we scared? Yeah, I was a little scared. I was a little scared. I wasn't scared to the point. Like, I thought I was going to get killed.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
I just was scared to the point. I was like, man, it's probably going to be a massacre up in this mother right now. Because I'm like, you know, we gotta shoot our way to the car.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And then by time, then, I mean, we can't, you know, like, we can't and don't want to hurt 900 people? No. Like, somebody's gonna make it to their car. Oh, well. And we got to get all the way to the Mississippi bridge. Then we got to get over this bridge. I was like, you know, I'm just gonna thank God that nobody get hurt. Yeah, well, you know, like, they didn't have no security there.
Bunny
What the hell? The venue didn't have security or anything.
DJ Paul
We didn't have security. No. You know, you're talking about the.
Bunny
This is the early days, early 90s. Were the crowds that you guys played for pretty rowdy? Because I would think. Yeah, I would think, like, with something.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Super routed.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Super rowdy. This was back when there was no phones in the club.
Bunny
Yeah. So people were just all focused on you guys.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Yeah. So if somebody was in a bad mood or having a bad mood that day, they were taking it out on everybody. It was crazy. So take me on this journey with you guys. When you dropped your album, I had heard in an interview you said, I think it was the one in 2005 that you guys dropped, and you. You paid 4, $500 for it.
DJ Paul
That was 95.
Bunny
95. Sorry. 95. And you guys paid 4, 500 for it and turned it into, like, 45 million.
DJ Paul
Yeah, over 45 million. Now. That's obviously over these. Yeah, it turned it to 45 million fast, you know, and it was the same album. Misty Styles, our first album. But sorry, my notes.
Bunny
My notes froze. That's why I didn't have the right ear.
DJ Paul
Yeah. 95. Yeah. We didn't make $45 million off that album alone, obviously. But just in that movie is what started our career. And, you know, it went on to, you know, well, not three, Six mafia and the Mafia and all that is worth, you know, hundreds of millions now. But, yeah, it. That's what started it all. $4,500. Me and Juicy put. Put, you know, 22, five together each. No. Split it and made that album.
Bunny
Is it crazy for you guys to ever just, like. Do you guys ever. You and Juicy just ever have a moment alone where you guys look at each other and just laugh because of where you guys came from and how the odds were stacked against you and how you guys scraped up $2,200 each to put towards this goal, and it's turned into this huge, giant, just amaz. Amazing legacy.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Me and him never really did that, but I've done that, you know, with. With some other people. Listen that and just, you know, just thought about it. Like, I. I have this Conversation a lot of times with like, my. My best. Best friends from my neighborhood that I grew up with.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And they be like, especially my friend little Larry. He can't stop talking about it. Like, man, I remember when you. That's how he talk. Man, I remember when you. Man, you used to ride around that, man. Paul, Paul, you remember when you. He, he stuff that. That B. You remember when you used be trying to sell them tapes? You had a little brown bag, that little brown. Your mama makeup bag. That little brown bag with them tasting you trying to sell them tapes at school. You remember that? You remember? I be like, yes, Larry, I remember that. He drunk. It's two in the morning. He can't stop talking about all this. I'm like, yes, Larry, I remember when I had my mama's brown makeup bag.
Bunny
I feel like friends like that are so essential, though, to kind of humble us. Us.
DJ Paul
Yeah, well, it's a reminders of that we did.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Because he also reminded me like, man, you remember you got drunk that time and I was like, shut up, Larry. I gotta go. I gotta go to sleep.
Bunny
I love that. So 2000, you guys dropped. Sipping on some scissor. And that's when I. I think late night tip. Sipping on some scissor. And what there was then your album after that, 2005 is kind of like when I became a huge 36 fan because I was on the west coast coast, so the southern rappers that I listened to were Outkast, 8Ball, MJG, and you guys. And I mean, you guys took the world by storm. And this was before anything was viral. How did you guys manage to do that? How did you guys manage to take this from Memphis and spread it all the way across the world?
DJ Paul
Well, how it happened was it was about the timing. It was about the timing of, like. I was just talking about the cassette tapes that I sold at high school.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
Because what happened was, you know, if I wouldn't have been in school, just. Just none of this would have happened.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
If I would have been graduated and I was out, none of this wouldn't have happened. The school was my distribution.
Bunny
Wow.
DJ Paul
And the timing of it. See, remember what you said earlier? I was in the 10th grade when I started, so 10th, 11th grade, 12th grade, you graduate and you go to college. So the school was my distribution.
Bunny
Did you go to college?
DJ Paul
Hell, no.
Bunny
Okay. Okay.
DJ Paul
I wish I would have because I perform in college just a lot. And, man, it looked like they have a lot of fun.
Bunny
Yeah, yeah.
DJ Paul
But no, I didn't go to college. But my music went to college.
Bunny
Gotcha.
DJ Paul
They took those old cassette tapes with them to college. And I would get. I would get calls or running. I still. Today I run into. People would be like, man, I took your cassette tape to college. And my roommate stole it. I was so mad that I couldn't get it back until I go back to Memphis and go to the stereo store. I would get my. My cousin to mail me one to the college. But they would take those old tapes to college with them roommates and steal them. And then they would go back to where they was from, and then they would let those people hear it. And then it would get duplicated and duplicated, and then it just spread over. Over the world.
Bunny
That's amazing. Take me to 2005 when you guys drop the most known unknown. What were you guys doing during that era? Because you guys just didn't miss at all. Like, that was like. I don't know. That was like where it just fucking exploded for you guys.
DJ Paul
Yeah, that was. That was when we really started to. That was when. You know how we talked about earlier, about not being deserving of something, feeling that way.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Well, that was at the point where I. I had just bought my first Rolls Royce, and I was like. I'm like, okay, all right. Now I see what life's about. I had just built my first big house at an 8, 000 square foot house that I built, designed like a castle. And. And I was like, man, okay, now I'm living life. Life. Because that was my first big house, right? I started building that in 2002, and I finished it in 2004. We recorded that album in 2004. I was making a lot of beats, you know, in that process, and I even record. I even made the beat rather to Stay Flies remix that featured Slim Dug, used a Trick Daddy and a few guys on it. I made that beat at that house in the theater room. That was the only thing I ever did in that theater room. Because don't ever put a theater room in your house. They. They never get used, ever. They're just for kids.
Bunny
We've had a couple, and they've never gotten used.
DJ Paul
Never get used. They look cool, but you never use them. I just. I always went to sleep in it. The only thing that ever came out of the room was making that beat. Oh, so the Stay Fly remix beats. So. So that's when I started really seeing what. What life's about. I had a house in Florida. I bought a house in Destin, Florida. Did MTV Cribs that if y' all want to watch that MTV Cribs episode.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And, man, we was living life, man. Juicy had got a Maybach this and that. And, you know, everybody was. Had nice cars. Everybody grew crunchy. Had like four cars, two houses on the same street. Everybody was eating bottles. Baby mama house on the same street as him. We was living life.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And, man, we just went in and I was like, man, we can't stop this. And we just went in and just made a, you know, super dope album.
Bunny
Yeah, it was amazing. I remember popping my collar was my. Because I was working, you know, I was a. An escort back in Vegas. I was a high, high price call girl. So popping my collar was my. Who. Who had the pimp themes in. In the three six Mafia. Was that influenced from your childhood or was that.
DJ Paul
Yeah, my brother was an actual pimp.
Bunny
Okay. Gotcha.
DJ Paul
I had a brother that was an actual pimp.
Bunny
Gotcha.
DJ Paul
You know, he got. He got killed being a pimp.
Bunny
Oh.
DJ Paul
So, yeah, that. I grew up. I grew up in that, too.
Bunny
Okay, Gotcha.
DJ Paul
When I say I grew up around organized crime, I basically did all of it.
Bunny
Well, I mean, you can't have drug dealing without out hookers and blow either, you know, so it's like it all goes hand in hand. But, yeah, that was my. I was popping my collar. Popping. Popping my call everywhere. Everywhere I'd go, I'd drive to, like, you know, to my appointments and. And be bumping three, six.
DJ Paul
It was in it. Yeah. And if you. Yeah, if you. If you was in that. In that life, then you knew that a lot of Memphis people was in the pimping.
Bunny
Yes, absolutely.
DJ Paul
Memphis has so many pimps, man. That was. That was the thing back then. So many gold teeth.
Bunny
It was a different lifestyle, too, you know? Like, it's not like it was. It's not like it is now. Like, people always say that I glamorized that life, but it's not that I glamorized it. It's the life that I lived, and it made me a lot of money. And, like, yeah, there are downsides to every sort of street thing that you could possibly do, but there was also some good that came out of it for me. And I always. I don't try to glamorize it, but I do try to tell the truth about it, you know, and it was a different time in life. Life.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Yeah, it was.
Bunny
It was completely different.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it was, you know, like, I grew up doing a lot of crazy, too, that, you Know, I wouldn't, I wouldn't glamorize or talk about. I guess I. I guess I do it with the raps.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
But you know, like in a way, but you know, I just, I just noticed that a lot of people that I know that came from bad things in their past. I know a lot of people that's doing the ones that survived, they're doing really, really good.
Bunny
Absolutely.
DJ Paul
Like if you look at Master P, Master P came from, from you know, crazy, crazy, you know, like, you know, not a dude worth hundreds of millions. Yeah, hundreds of millions. Because what I think it is is you get a different knowledge going through in the streets that a school could never teach you.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
I know people that went to. When you asked me that I go to college, I said hell no. Because I know some people that went to college that ain't doing nothing right now.
Bunny
Absolutely. I always say street smarts over book smart smarts.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Like book smarts are a necessity for if you're gonna work a regular job and if you're gonna like, you know, be a CEO of like a financial place. But like if you in life, the school of hard knocks is going to teach you the most lessons.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Even in the music business, some people that I know that taught they self music or this or that versus some people I know that went to school for music, they. In two different worlds.
Bunny
Yeah, absolutely.
DJ Paul
Two. Two different worlds.
Bunny
Just because hustle can be taught, our hustle can't be bought. You know. And it's like school. You're. That's you. You're essentially learning from somebody else. But like in the streets, it's hands on. You are, it's sink or swim. Nobody's out there to save you. So you're gonna have to. It's killer be killed. You have to figure it out yourself.
DJ Paul
Yeah. And you learn from, from. You learn more from pain. School don't teach pain.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Pain is the quickest way to learn anything.
Bunny
That is a beautiful.
DJ Paul
Like. Yeah, you get hit in the mouth and you be like, God damn, I should have blocked next time I'm a block. Cause that was not cool.
Bunny
Yeah, absolutely. But that's a beautiful.
DJ Paul
They should have probably added that to school. Just walk around. But you know, it was in school back in the day. I got a lot of wolves.
Bunny
Yes. I've gotten spanked by the principal before. Have you guys ever gotten spanked?
DJ Paul
Hell no.
Bunny
Oh man.
DJ Paul
They gonna call the police. No.
Bunny
Yeah, I've gotten spanked. I had a principal who was able to spank Kids.
DJ Paul
Me too.
Bunny
I couldn't.
DJ Paul
Mr. Chambers. Mr. Chambers. Man, that motherfucker, man. He was the coolest dude in the world. He was tall, handsome. He looked like. He looked exactly like Laurence Fishburne.
Bunny
Oh, wow.
DJ Paul
And he would walk in there, he always had a mean face and like, you had to really do something really fucked up for him to come and this and that. So like, they, they pressed that button like. Mr. Chambers, Paul is acting up again. I need you to come over here.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
He show up to that door. Come here, Mar. He said, you know, it's going to be trouble and I got to make house calls. That's what he said. You know, it's trouble. I got to make house calls. He was a comedian, boy. And he was. He will whoop you in front of everybody.
Bunny
Oh, not in front of everybody.
DJ Paul
Not in the hallway. Right there. Pull them pants up in the back so it's tight. Pull them pants up, man. He'll ask you which one you want, like the strap for the hand or the paddle with the butt.
Bunny
But yes.
DJ Paul
And this, this constructed a pedal that was worse. He put holes in it.
Bunny
Oh, he wanted it to catch the wind.
DJ Paul
Yeah. So, man, and then it like it sucked in a little bit more, I think, because of the holes. Man. He like, which one? Boy got head out of the butt. I'm like, oh, God. So, man, he would be right there in front of everybody. But this. The funny story. My daddy owned a pest control company. Morning. And one day my daddy got called to go to this dude's house. Oh, man, we showed up to this house. I like mid century modern houses. We showed up to this house. Nice one level mid century modern house in the hood, though. Yeah, but it was the nicest house on the street.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
I'm like, man, that's a nice house. Listen, that, that was the only reason I went with my daddy, because I like to see houses. Like I told you, it's the 65 year old white woman inside of me. I'm walking over like, man, it's some nice landscaping he got right here. It's a nice house, man. Next thing I know, the door swing opening. It was his ass. I said, what? I said, I said, daddy, I said, this is the I was telling you about. This is my principal. This is who be whooping me, man. We walk in there, his house is nice, pimped out. He got the big screen TV where you pull a drawer out and it had the green, white and green. Not a green, red and blue lights that shined up on it. The old project.
Bunny
Getting paid that good.
DJ Paul
Yeah. I'm like, man, this probably a drug dealer. Listen, that man house was nice. Big screen tv. I'd never seen a big screen TV in person.
Bunny
That's crazy.
DJ Paul
And man. And you know, and then. Well, that was just. Funny story.
Bunny
Did your dad go in there and say anything to him or just acted like it was business as usual?
DJ Paul
I don't. Not that I. I remember. I don't think he said.
Bunny
I couldn't imagine sending my kids to school now and letting somebody spank them, though. Because you can't trust.
DJ Paul
Back in the day, it was a different run. You crazy these days. But I swear it helped.
Bunny
No, no, for sure. And all of the bus stop fights, the ditching, the. Yeah, I was always bringing back. Can we go back? I swear I live in nostalgia, dude. Like, I just love the 80s, 90s and 2000s. I think it was just perfect.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
So after you guys dropped the album in 2005, it went gold in six months, correct?
DJ Paul
That was the one in. In 1997.
Bunny
Oh, that one was 1997. Okay.
DJ Paul
1997. Our first major album. Okay, so our first major album. We got our first record deal. My first major in the major distribution deal. 97. That album would tell the club up on it when golden six months. And that was the album that. That. That I made the bet. And they was like, man, I think y' all gonna go gold. And I was like, no, I don't think so. And I made a bet with one of my friends and. And six months it end up.
Bunny
It wasn't Larry, was it? You didn't make the bet.
DJ Paul
I can't remember who it was.
Bunny
I'm just kidding.
DJ Paul
It probably was him, though, to be honest. And it went gold. And I couldn't even believe. I was like, what? And we got that gold plaque. And, man, I got one for everybody I knew. New.
Bunny
Did you feel like some sort of accomplishment when you finally did that? Like you were getting recognized?
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
What did the 2005 album do if that one went gold?
DJ Paul
Oh, the 2005 out now. So like 6 million.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
So that one was like.
DJ Paul
So.
Bunny
So was that platinum? Does that equal platinum?
DJ Paul
Platinum is one million.
Bunny
One million. Okay.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it went one million immediately.
Bunny
Wow. Okay.
DJ Paul
I mean, even the singles, Stay Fly and all the singles and side to Side, all them went platinum. That was. That was easy.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Yeah. That album. Yeah, it's all like 5 or 6 million.
Bunny
It was during this time was whenever you guys were doing the soundtrack for Hustle and Flow too. Correct.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Yeah, we did that, too. So all of this came back to back. You know, we had the most now. And see, it was funny how it worked because we had made all those other albums by this point. 2005, we made our first gold album. And in 97. So by time, we had another album that came out and went. The seven on Sizzler album was in 2000. It went platinum.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
You know, and it ended up selling, you know, probably 2 or 3 million copies, so. And then we had another album that went gold, the Unbreakables. So by the time 2005 happened, you know, I already got, you know, five or six plaques on the wall.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And. But we. I was like, nobody still knew who we was. I should have kept it that way. But I was dreaming. And that's why I had to watch what I wish for, right? Yeah, you had to watch what I think about, because I would really bring into into existence.
Bunny
Yeah, you manifest.
DJ Paul
Yeah, you manifested. And. And I named that album the Most Known Unknowns. And I was like, we know, but we're not known. I. I said it at the beginning of the album. Album. And I started playing all of the hits we had, like Shepherd Slob on the knot. Like, I started scratching to the club of the whole intro was me scratching all of our songs, like, beating it. And people heads of all the hits we had. And then next thing I know, that album come out, and every song on that album was a hit, literally. And then after that album, the next year, we went in the Oscar, and now we're the most Sony, like, y'. All the most Google thing in the world. World. And I'm like, oh, what did I do? What did I do?
Bunny
You say that you wish that you guys would have stayed unknown. Why do you wish that?
DJ Paul
Well, you know, popular. Being popular, man, is not. It's not cool.
Bunny
It's not for the week, that's for sure.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it's not cool. Like, you know, back on our very first album, that album. Not to keep bringing up that football. That's very. That's right behind your head. That's for sale on three six mafia merch dot com.
Bunny
This football right here.
DJ Paul
Keep bringing that up.
Bunny
This one right here.
DJ Paul
Yeah, yeah. But that album right there, we wore mask on the COVID And I. That's what I wish we would have kept doing.
Bunny
Okay. So people hadn't seen your faces, though.
DJ Paul
They had seen our faces after that album.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
But on it. But as far as that album, they hadn't seen our faces.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
You know, and that's something I wish we would have kept doing. Like, I used to look at groups like Kiss and Insane Clown Faucet.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
I used to be like. Like, man, I can't imagine how nice it would be to be rich. But nobody recognized you.
Bunny
I didn't recognize Gene Simmons. He came in the club one night and got a dance from me and my best friend Tasha, and I didn't recognize him. He kept telling me he was Gene, and I didn't believe him until he licked my back with his long ass tongue. Yeah, Gene Simmons licked my back, me and Tasha. And I was like, you are like. I didn't recognize him until he stuck that fucking long ass tongue out, dude. Because they had their faces covered all the time.
DJ Paul
Yeah, man. And that's. That's. That's. I used to live down the street from James Simmons in la. I passed his house every day. I used to see his wife and the kids up at the. The Italian restaurant that we all used to eat at. It's got to be the tallest family in the world.
Bunny
Tall.
DJ Paul
The wife is tall. The kids are tall. Like, yeah, I'll be sitting down there eating my sweet. I'm like, damn.
Bunny
I love it.
DJ Paul
Well, yeah, I. I wish we would have kept wearing the mask because, you know, like, I said to. To have money. But nobody recognized you. I can't imagine how it would be the equivalent of being an invisible person.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
Like an invisible person walking this room right now, which I'm sure is probably a couple in here.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Visible person. It would be like that.
Bunny
It's like Clark Kent and Superman.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
You know, like, you get to have two Personas.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Which I don't know how nobody never. I just watched Superman the other day, and I'm like, how did I know that? He just put. He just put on glasses. That was his disguise.
Bunny
It was the bulge. It distracted all the girls.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
They just didn't know.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Have you. Have you watched the story of him?
Bunny
No. Of Superman or of, like, Christopher Reeves? Christopher Reeves, a little bit.
DJ Paul
The new one that's out.
Bunny
No, I have not seen.
DJ Paul
There's a new one that just came out. Man, it's so good.
Bunny
Is it good? I'll watch it.
DJ Paul
It's really good to tell his whole story, his whole life, and it's really good.
Bunny
I just hate how it ended for him.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
That's like.
DJ Paul
But he was, you know, he was really. He really was like a Superman.
Bunny
Yeah. No, he was a good dude.
DJ Paul
He flew planes.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
He did everything in real life. He was Real active.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
No, he was really active.
Bunny
Nobody has anything bad to say about him. Like, he was just a really good human and I hate when bad things happen to good humans.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
So has three six Mafia ever really officially broken up up? Like. No, there's never been like an announcement of you guys, like breaking up. It's just always you guys doing your own projects or like.
DJ Paul
Yeah, we just split and just started doing solo stuff.
Bunny
Members leaving and stuff like that.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
What's your relationship with Juicy now? Are you guys still close?
DJ Paul
Yeah, we're still touring.
Bunny
Yay.
DJ Paul
We started back touring for the first time in September of 2019.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
It was the first show we had did together since 2012. Well.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
Yeah. So we've been touring ever since then. Back together. We got a tour coming up this, this summer and we got, for the first time in April, we got Coachella.
Bunny
Oh, that's gonna be. That's gonna be iconic because now the newer generation of kids are gonna get to see you and they're gonna latch on to you, dude, because.
DJ Paul
Oh, yeah, they've been doing it.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Ever since we took Tick Tock.
Bunny
You guys are insane on Tick Tock, dude.
DJ Paul
Yeah, like, it'd be going crazy. Those songs have been going viral.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
I'm sitting up, I'm looking at Tick Tock and I see like a 19 year old white girl, like, we gonna fucking in the back of the bus and feel her nose up full of that duck. So like, God damn it.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
God, no.
Bunny
It's crazy. How does it feel to influence just generations of kids? I mean, even like kids that are our kids now. You're like, it's just generation, generation, generation. And then all of these young artists too.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Well, you know what it is? I read something the other day that said we won the other day. It was last year, but I think I'm still living in 2024.
Bunny
That's how, you know we're getting old when we say the other day. And it was last year.
DJ Paul
Yeah, the other day. It was like 10 years ago, but I was last year, I saw something that said that I. The kids that, like, I don't know what generation they are, but the. The age that our kids are will listen to like the music that we liked.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Just like we like. Do we listen to music that our parents like?
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
So, you know, like, I'm a huge fan of, you know, the Stacks musicians because I grew up in Memphis. My mama listened to a lot of Stacks music. So I like that. And you know, kids these days like, you know, like my music because they parents was listening to, you know, my music or whatever. Whatever. Yeah, When I saw. When. When Cardi B and. And Offset first started dating, I saw them at. I saw them at the Breakfast Club in New York. I was going on after Cardi B. Cardi B was in there doing. This was when she first came out. Cardi B was doing her interview, and I was sitting in the lobby talking to Offset. And I'll say, it was like. He was like, man, how y' all come up with that triplet flip flow? The triplet flow? And I was like, man, that was. That was Lord Influence. Like, man, he's like, man, my mama used to listen to three six Mafia all the time. And I was like, damn. I was like, you're making me feel old now. You make me feel.
Bunny
Oh, but.
DJ Paul
But it was. It was so funny to hear that, you know, he liked us because his mama listened to us.
Bunny
Yeah. No, it's wild. It's just. It's the. The lore with you guys, like I've said a couple times during this podcast, just runs so deep. Deep. So you guys both want. You guys all won an. An Oscar and an Academy Award. Is that the same thing?
DJ Paul
The same thing?
Bunny
It is the same thing. Okay.
DJ Paul
The Academy Award is like the. Let's just say the. The event, the Oscars, the actual award.
Bunny
Gotcha. I've always got that confused. I've never understood what that was. And then. So you guys ended up winning the Oscar for the Hustle and Flow song Hard Out Here for a Pimp before winning the Grammys.
DJ Paul
Yeah, we won an Oscar way before we won a Grammy.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Still today, Three Six Mafia never won a Grammy. I'm the only person in 360 Mafia that won a Grammy.
Bunny
Wow. Okay, I didn't know that. Because you've won four Grammys, though, right?
DJ Paul
Yes. If you include songs that read re, that re, that's remakes of ours. Five.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
Because we just want again with. With. With Chris Brown's album.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
Just.
Bunny
You know, I just saw you post.
DJ Paul
About a week ago. Whatever. Yeah, but in. In 2020 with Cardi B. But. But the actual. To get the actual, actual trophy. Yeah, I was. I'm the only person in three six Mafia. They got one I wanted with Killer Mike.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
Or Killer Mike.
Bunny
The year that we were there. Right? Was that.
DJ Paul
Yeah, yeah, I was there.
Bunny
Yes, I remember that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
DJ Paul
That's amazing.
Bunny
What? So tell me when you finally win that Grammy, because I know for every artist my husband's the same way. It's like you guys all want that Grammy. Like, it just means so much to you guys when you finally get that in your grasp. And now you have five.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
How does that feel, man?
DJ Paul
It feels amazing, man. You know, like, because it's so. It's something. When I won the Oscar, I didn't even know what an Oscar was.
Bunny
Yeah. I still don't.
DJ Paul
Yeah. So. But I was, you know, I was, you know, it was a blessing, you know, so happy to have know you that. But when I won a Grammy, I was like, oh, my God, you know, because, you know, as musicians, we look forward to the. To the. The Grammy.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
You know, so it was. It was great. It was great getting that.
Bunny
And it's hard. People don't realize how hard it is to win a Grammy.
DJ Paul
It's really hard.
Bunny
There's some people who go their entire careers and never get a Grammy. They'll get nominations if they're lucky, but never get Grammys. And you have five. Like, that speaks volumes for your talent.
DJ Paul
Thank God it happened.
Bunny
What's one thing that you've learned about the longevity in this game? Let's talk about, like, your sobriety and stuff like that, too.
DJ Paul
So you want me to mix the two together?
Bunny
You want to talk about several separately? I'm sorry.
DJ Paul
Oh, right now I am a year and three months sober.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
You know, no, we no longer. No drugs. No. Not even vitamins. Like, you know, I'm the cleanest I've ever been in my. My whole life. I was never into vitamins and pills and all of that. Thank God. I think if I would have got into the whole pill world, I'd probably be dead.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
You know, but thank God the hardest drug I ever did was cocaine. And not saying that's not a hard one. That's a pretty hard one. But now that's. That's. That's as big as it ever got for me.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Yeah. You know, I stopped that long, long, long ago. But alcohol, year, year and three months. But now I did take my breaks. You know, I. I've been off alcohol for. I was for like four years at one point, almost four years at one point, like 20, 19, 20, you know, this and that, all that. I think I started back drinking in, like 2021 or some part of 2021, but, like, like about four years up to that. Three and a half years up to that. I was sober, too.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And I gotta say, man, it's the best thing I ever did in my life.
Bunny
Yeah. Sobriety Is hard. I tell everybody it's the hardest but most rewarding journey that you'll be on. Like, sobriety does suck when you're first coming off of everything. Because I got sober on the Yellow wolf tour in 2017 off pills and cocaine, alcohol in 2018. Been sober ever since. It's a really hard journey because you have to get to know yourself and you have to learn to cope with things that you've always numbed, you know, and it's not easy, but once you get past that hump, it is like thinking about even snorting a line makes me want to crawl in a hole like I could never anymore. Like, once you get that far away from it, you're just like, how was I this person before?
DJ Paul
Yeah, well, I don't think like that when I think about cocaine. I kind of miss cocaine.
Bunny
But.
DJ Paul
I would never do like my husband, I would never do cocaine again in my life. I mean, you can't with fennel. No, I just read today on the way over here that Corey Feldman's drummer just died from fennel.
Bunny
Oh, no.
DJ Paul
Yeah, they just announced that today.
Bunny
Oh, yeah.
DJ Paul
So you can't do cocaine no more. Thank God we got off of it when we did because, yeah, you know, that's what killed Boo.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
So what was the pivotal moment for you wanting to get sober, Man?
DJ Paul
I just. Of cocaine or alcohol?
Bunny
Both. Both.
DJ Paul
Cocaine. I just got sick of waking up with headaches and stopped up noses. I hate to stop them nose more than anything in the world.
Bunny
You know the bloody boogers that come out too.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I hate the worst. Man. Blowing your nose.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Comment come out.
Bunny
Ugh.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I hate that.
Bunny
Yeah, it's gross.
DJ Paul
That alone.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
If I never got stopped up nose, I'd probably still be getting high.
Bunny
No.
DJ Paul
But yeah, I didn't like that. I didn't like the headaches. I didn't like feeling like. Because the thing about cocaine, you feel so good when you're doing it and you partying and then the next day you wake up, you're like, ah, man, what the happened?
Bunny
So when I think about cocaine, I just think about people pooping their pants. Okay. Because you cannot do a line of cocaine and not have to take a.
DJ Paul
Yeah, you gotta take.
Bunny
I have to.
DJ Paul
You just gotta be, you know, it's gotta be close to a bathroom and baby wipes. Yeah, close to a bathroom.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
That's probably why people do so much cocaine in bathrooms, literally.
Bunny
So they can take a dump right after as soon as that drain hits.
DJ Paul
Yeah. So the reason why I got just all the way. All the way clean is just. Because with. With. With alcohol, man, you just make so many bad decisions.
Bunny
Yeah. Yeah.
DJ Paul
So many bad decisions. You know, like, there's nothing wrong with drinking alcohol. You know, I don't want people to think that, you know, just getting up is when the bad come in. You only have a couple of drinks, this and that. That's fine. But I never got to that point. I tried it. We've all tried it. Like, I'm just gonna go have a couple.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
You know, dinner. And then, man, next thing you know, because what. What happened is somebody will be like, oh, man, you want to go over here? Let's go over here with you. Just after dinner, we just had, like, one drink. Watch the game. One drink. Then next thing you know, it's three in the morning. And that one drink then turned into 100 drinks.
Bunny
Well, our generation is binge drinkers.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Yeah, we did. There was no. We were just trained to go TTG always, you know.
DJ Paul
Yeah. So that's when the problem kick in. So, you know, like, next thing you know, somebody's calling you the next day, like, hey, man, we're gonna be over at that same bar tonight if you want to come back. Like, who's this? I got your number last night. You remember me, man? We was hanging out and this and that. Everybody's your friend when you're drunk.
Bunny
Yeah. Especially my husband. Yes, I know.
DJ Paul
And see, I'm the type of person that I don't like making new friends.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
I'm in the process of my life of getting rid of friends, so, like, making new ones is the last thing that I possibly want. And, like, I feel that drinking you just, like, you know, made, you know, gay. This person, your number. Now he's calling you. He want to hang out some more and this and that. And you just. Just. Just so many to see wrong, bad decisions and. Yeah, you miss stuff. You miss stuff. Like, I had. I was talking to a big. A big producer who was going to put me on the phone with an even bigger producer one day. This one that long ago. This is like two years ago about. About making a TV show based on my life. Life. This guy actually got big TV shows on Netflix as we speak. And I missed the call because I was drunk. I said, God damn it. And you know how Hollywood is.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
He's like apostles. There's no problem. We just set up another call. Never got that other call set up.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And I was like, man, you know what? You know what? You know that just cost me. But you know, at the same time, I don't regret it because it's a million people out here want to do that with me. So I. And they just, it just wasn't. God didn't want me to do it with, with them maybe or whatever the case was.
Bunny
Yeah. The universe always intervenes.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Nothing wrong with them. I wish I would have did it with them. But at the same time it's like, you know, he didn't want me to do it with them.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
You know, so I'm gonna have to do it. You know, it would just do it with somebody else or do it another time with them. Maybe he just didn't want me to do it with them at that time because I wasn't and clean. And I probably would have just got on set and it up.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Or something.
Bunny
So maybe he'll listen to this podcast and circle back. Yeah, yeah, put it in the air.
DJ Paul
Yeah. So I missed that call and I was like, man, this. And I only missed it by like 30 minutes. But that's, that's too long for a big, a big producer, you know. So I was like, man, you know, you just. Alcohol just have, you just, you just miss too much stuff.
Bunny
My thing is, is I can't deal with the three day hangovers. Dude.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
The older you get to, your mental health gets affected by it. And I'm just like, I can't afford to not feel like myself for three days.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
Yeah, I'm good.
DJ Paul
Yeah, that's how it happened. Because somebody told me they like, man, you know, when you, when you, you, when you hit 40, hangovers are three days. And boy, I wouldn't be damned if the day on my birthday I saw that it's like three days.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
If you're lucky. Yeah, you're lucky.
Bunny
No, for sure. So I want to circle back to the question that I, I lumped in with your sobriety. What's the one thing you've learned about longevity in the, in this game, in this whole genre of life?
DJ Paul
Man, it's about just as it's about just teaching yourself something new. Always educating yourself on something new about life. Excuse me, about life. Like, I read this book that changed my life and a lot called Atomic Habits. Atomic Habits is a great book and it teach you about just preparing yourself, you know, like, it'd be like if you're, if you're the type of person that's, that's late for work because you want to eat breakfast in the morning, start preparing your stuff the night before, you know, like, maybe cut up your vegetables, put them in a little. In a Tupperware container or whatever and have all that ready to go. So the next morning you just crack your eggs, throw them in there, scramble them up, make you a taco or burrito, whatever you want to make and, and keep it moving. You. You've eliminated the, the most, the most time consuming parts. Cutting the vegetables. Everybody hate cutting up vegetables.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
Wolfgang Puck don't even cut vegetables. You got a sous chef for that.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
So, you know, like, and then it says, like, if you want to make a habit of going to the gym every day or three, four times a week or whatever, like, even if you're late and you're not gonna, you're only gonna be able to spend 10 minutes in the gym. That's not gonna, you know, you're not gonna gain no muscle or nothing in 10 minutes, but just go do it anyway because you're building the habit.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
Of going. Retraining the consistency. So. So that book right there changed my life a lot. You know, just gotta stay consistent in whatever you do, you know, to the point. And it hurts me sometimes. So consistent with.
Bunny
I feel like we're always learning, though, and that. And you can never stop learning when you think you know everything. That's when you're not living.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
I feel like there's always a lesson to be learned in something. I know I learned every day still.
DJ Paul
I went to look at one day, I was in Beverly Hills. I was looking for this, this. I was looking at this condo that I want to buy and it was for sale by a doctor. And when I went in this condo, I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought, I thought it was photoshopped. This main condo was so clean. Now everybody's going to clean their house when somebody's coming to look at it. But I got a feeling that this dude lives like this. Like, man, this dude is this clean. I want him to do my, my checkups. Because dude right here is a perfectionist.
Bunny
He's a thorough man.
DJ Paul
When I went in his closet, he only had four suits. Exactly the same. Four pair of shoes, exactly the same. Five. Five. Four or five shirts, exactly the same. Just hung up, organized to the T, no extra nowhere. But this one really tripped me out. When I went in his bedroom, he didn't have a TV on the wall. Wall. The whole floor to ceiling, wall to wall was bookshelves, nothing but books. And I was like, at night, this dude read books. When he go to sleep, he don't watch TV that's sitting up watching a. A Jeffrey Dahmer documentary. Like I am. He's reading a book. It might be about Jeffrey Dahmer. Who knows?
Bunny
But.
DJ Paul
But he's reading a book, right? And I was like, man, yeah. I saw something that. It said that. That. That billionaire. All billionaires read a certain amount of books a year. Books is where it's at, man. Like, yeah, I was never into books, and I still don't read books. But, you know, I got the. The Audible. I listen to books, you know, riding down the street. Whatever you're doing, cleaning up. I need to get back into it. Yeah. A few. A couple of years ago, I was into it like. Like a. But I fell off. It's hard just starting to get back into it.
Bunny
It's hard reading books. Like, I. I can listen to a book all day long. I love Audible. But when I sit down and actually try to, like, look and read a book, it's like I go back to that little girl in sixth grade who just couldn't focus. And like, it's like I can read something, but my mind won't attain it.
DJ Paul
Me too.
Bunny
Yeah. So it's like I have to listen to it.
DJ Paul
I'm the same way. Some people just like that. Like. Like growing up, if I got a new keyboard and it came with, you know, an instruction manual, I. I didn't read that. I just had to have somebody come over my house who. Who already had that keyboard and showed me what to do, because I can read. I know how to read. I can read really good, but just can't obtain it. I'll forget in a second.
Bunny
Yeah, same.
DJ Paul
I'll forget in a second. So, like, these days, you know, all night I'm watching tutorials on YouTube, you know, about this drum machine and this turntable and this and that. We call it YouTube University. I'm always anything I can't figure out how to do, I just pull it up.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
How do you work this? And it's a YouTube video on that. I'm gonna watch every one of them. And one thing I notice, one thing I noticed is you'll see some. Somebody that'll have like a hundred thousand views on this. On this keyboard or drum machine or whatever you're trying to make. You know, a grilled cheese sandwich. A hundred thousand views, and it'll be somebody that got 1,000 views. Views. That person with the 1,000 views I have the most. Here, here. Have the sweet spot of what I was really looking for.
Bunny
Yeah, no, I love that. Too. Yeah, I do that too. I noticed people's numbers. And then you go to, like, watch their, you know, video or whatever it is, and they always have the better information. Yeah, the bigger one.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Because sometimes the guys with the. With the most information, I mean, with the most views, rather have the less information because they trying to sell it to you.
Bunny
Right.
DJ Paul
They're like, hey, and if you want to learn more, I got a link right here. Go right here. They point and it ain't even popped up yet. I'm like, where you point at? And then after a while, a little picture, a smaller picture of him will point at. I got one that you can go here and watch if you want to see how to do this. I'm. That's the reason why I watch this one, because I want to see. So then you click on that one. Then, like, if you really want to learn more, you go right here. Then you click on that one. You really want to learn more, you go to the link down below for $30 a month. I'm like, okay, here we go. I just watched 10 videos to figure this out. You should have just told me you wanted $30. I gave you 30. 30 minutes ago.
Bunny
No, I feel that. And now they do that on Tick Tock too. It drives me crazy. You have worked with so many artists. You've worked with pretty much. I. I mean, the list could go, yeah, everybody, Everybody. Is there anybody that you haven't worked with that you want to work with?
DJ Paul
It would have to be somebody outside of RA Rap, because I've worked with everybody in rap, so it would have to be. Man, I would just have to think, because it would be somebody in, like, a totally different space. Like. Yeah, it would be somebody like Tears for Fears or some.
Bunny
Or like edm. Have you done edm?
DJ Paul
Yeah, done a ton of edm. EDM was kind of. Kind of made off my sound.
Bunny
Wow.
DJ Paul
In a way. I did the first EDM rap record before it was even a such thing as the word ed.
Bunny
Really?
DJ Paul
Yeah, it was called Feel It. And I filmed a video in 2009 in Vegas.
Bunny
Where were you at 2009? I was in Vegas.
DJ Paul
Yeah. You should have came and got in the video.
Bunny
Yeah, it was. I'll go back in time and show up.
DJ Paul
Yeah. It was with DJ Ties, though, when nobody in America really knew who he was.
Bunny
Yeah. Yeah.
DJ Paul
DJ ts, though. And Sean Kingston. Sean Kingston wasn't even old enough to get in the club to shoot the video. So I had to rent a penthouse suite upstairs and bring some girls and we shot his scene in there.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Because he was a kid. And we brought out this song called Feel It. And the song went gold in Canada first. My first out of. Out of country plaque.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And the song didn't get no video play on nowhere but YouTube because MTV was like, like, we don't have nowhere to put this. We don't even know what genre this is. You know, it wasn't a such thing as the word EDM did. Yeah, it was. And then BET wasn't going to play it 106 and park wasn't going to play it. And I'm sitting up here like, you know, if it's not a box for something, you should just create the box. And. And they didn't. So the song never got no play. But it end up starting something because you know Little John and. And, and what's my boy's name? Little John and Party Rock. What's my boy's name? Party rockers in the house tonight.
Bunny
Oh, lmfao. Yeah.
DJ Paul
They had the vision.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
They was like, oh, I see what they're trying to do here. Okay, let's just do it. Let's do this.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And man, they came out with all them songs and man blew up. And I was like, see, Sony, this what I was trying to tell you. This was it.
Bunny
So you're pretty much the father of edm.
DJ Paul
Yeah. With hip hop on and. I am.
Bunny
I love it.
DJ Paul
I am. I was in Vegas one day over to Maloof's house for a Halloween party. I still got the pictures in my phone. And it was. I met with Afro Jack. Me and Afro Jack had did a song together, but it never came out. Now the beat came out and it blew up. I heard it in the club one night. I was waiting for my verse to come on. Like, yeah. I'm telling everybody. I'm like, hey, I'm on this. I'm on this. I'm on this. Like next thing I know, you know EDM songs, they last for 20 minutes. Yeah, 15 minutes done came. I ain't heard myself yet. I'm like, oh. I'm like, where is my verse? And then I saw Afro Jack one day at the Maloose house. I'm like, hey man, what happened? I was like, you never used that verse. We did. And he was like, I didn't understand the hip hop own pop music at the time, but now I understand it. We should go back. I said, yeah, let's go to studio now, motherfucker. Let's do this. Like we had something going we had some going.
Bunny
I love that.
DJ Paul
Me and you, man, we had something going here.
Bunny
In so many words. He said, let's run it back.
DJ Paul
Yeah. And next thing I know, you know, EDM came out and it was mixed with loops and chants. Just like my stuff was back in the day. And, you know, it became huge.
Bunny
They have mastered the art of being rich. Rich and going under the radar. Like, they're never in any trouble. They're never, like, in any.
DJ Paul
Well, you know why? It's because they never get married, right?
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
They refuse to get married. Literally, they refuse to get married. Yeah. No, for sure. I see them every Christmas because every Christmas I'm on with Adrian House.
Bunny
Yeah. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I didn't. I never got to meet Adrian, but the brothers, I definitely knew the Adrian.
DJ Paul
I love Adrian, man. She's so cool. I've spent my time. We spend our holidays over Asian.
Bunny
I love that. That's really cool. Yeah. The Maloofs are great people. So let's talk about your restaurant, the Hideaway.
DJ Paul
Yeah, right away. It's the only restaurant on road. Basically the only restaurant on Rodeo Drive. 421 Rodeo Drive. The Hideaway. Go check it out. It took us forever to make that restaurant. We started working on that restaurant in. In 2015, and we didn't open up to two years ago.
Bunny
Wow. What took so long?
DJ Paul
Just.
Bunny
Well, licensing and permits.
DJ Paul
Permits. Beverly Hills was like, you know, we would show them stuff and they'd be like, that doesn't fit the aesthetics of Beverly Hills.
Bunny
What kind. What kind of cuisine is it?
DJ Paul
It's like upscale Latin.
Bunny
Okay.
DJ Paul
Like, we got, like, you know, you can go there and get a wagyu taco if you want to.
Bunny
Like, we'll have to go check it out next time.
DJ Paul
Yeah, you gotta check it out, man. It's really good. The food. Food is amazing. Everybody go there. Love it. All kind of celebrities be there because we got. We're in a courtyard, so the paparazzi can't come in that courtyard.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
And we got private. Private vip. You can go down underground and come up the elevator straight to our restaurant. So, like, nobody see you coming to the restaurant if you don't want them to. You can go through the front off of Rodeo if you want to, or you could come around the back from underground. And. And, you know, and it's his hid away. That's why we call it the Hideaway. And, you know, but the. The permits and all, it was a blessing in disguise because we were supposed to open up, like, February 2020 before anybody heard of oh, during COVID And, you know, we didn't get. We didn't get our clearances and all of that in time, so we didn't open. And that was a blessing because we wouldn't be open now down. We end up opening after all of that.
Bunny
Yeah. The universe always provides. Always. Would you say that the restaurant business is probably one of the hardest businesses to be in?
DJ Paul
Yes. Yeah, it's super hard. Yeah, it's super hard. You know, it's a lot of work, a lot of money coming to it, you know, because I had a restaurant with. With these same guys and some other guys in 2010. You know, we was open for, like, six months, and. And it closed down. You know, like, the guys called me one day. They was like, paul, you know, we got to close down the restaurant. And they was like, unless you want to keep it going. Because they knew I. I always wanted a restaurant. Like, do you want to keep it going? I'm like, how much? How much is it? They was like, well, you know, without staff, just the rent on Sunset Boulevard is. At that time, it's $20,000 a month. I'm like, who do I get these keys to? Cause we've been to close this motherfucker down.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Like, no, it was. That was it. Then 15, five years later, we went back at it, and it worked.
Bunny
I love that for you. That's awesome. I love that you always have your hands and stuff that you're not. That you're always doing something different musically, but you're also doing stuff outside of music.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I do everything, man.
Bunny
Love that.
DJ Paul
I spread myself too thin sometimes. A lot of times because of that.
Bunny
I think that that stems from just. My husband does it, too. And I think it's just you guys are just so excited to be where you're at, and I. Now you've been in it for a long time. But he does it, too, because he's just so excited and just wants to do it all and see it all and say he's done it. So.
DJ Paul
Yeah. And not just that. When you come from the hood, like me and him do, you know, man, man, Jelly got a lot in. In common that people don't even know about it. Like, you know, organizations and this and that, all our street and all this. But. But when you come from where we came from, you just. Just want to take as many, you know, steps as you can. Not to go back to that.
Bunny
Yes.
DJ Paul
You don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. I would Never put all my eggs in the music business basket. Like, no, like. Like, if music style. I don't even live off music, to be honest with you. Like, I have so many other forms of income. I actually learned that from a. A lady in Nashville. One day, I was out here recording Yellow Wolf, producing Yellow Wolf. And I was a pescatarian at the time. This is like 2019. I was a pescatarian. And I went to. I was still eating seafood, but no meat. And I went to a seafood restaurant in Nashville on the way to the studio, and a black lady came in there. Older black lady came in there, and me and my brother Phil was sitting at the bar, and she was like, can you guys hit me out with something? I'm buying my husband a laptop from Best Buy down the street, and I want to know what's the. What kind I should get? And I told her. I was like, I only use Apple, but, you know, you can get whatever you want, but that's what I use. Blah, blah. And we. My brother started talking to her because my brother got the Bell Bond business. He gave her the card, and he was like, you know, like, what do you do? And she's like, no, me and my husband, we own a bunch of different companies. She said, I read a long time ago that at all times, you should have have seven forms of income. It's like a room. And I was like, oh, wow. And she was like, you know, we started off supplying drink machines for a big. A big business. And then I asked them, I was like, you know, who do your. Your. Your clean. Who do you're cleaning in the business? So we end up picking up that account. And I was like, oh, who do the landscaping? So we end up picking up that account. So just in that one building, she picked up three forms of income right there. Wow. She told me about the other four she had or whatever. Whatever. And I was like, man, that's a good idea. So I just started, you know, like, seven forms of income. Now I think I got 700, but I just.
Bunny
Not a bad thing, though. It's not a bad thing, though.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
So do you have new music coming out?
DJ Paul
Yes. Okay, next Friday. Well, I don't know when this will be. When y'. All.
Bunny
We're dropping. We'll drop this on Monday. Yes, we'll drop it Sunday.
DJ Paul
Yeah. So this Friday, which would be like the 21st or something. Okay, whatever. This Friday is. I got a new single with Crazy Bone coming out from Bone Thugs.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Talked about that for the longest three six Mafia And Bone Thugs was rivals.
Bunny
Long time rivals, actually, when Jay and I first got together. I'm a Bone thugs girl. He's 36 guy, and he's like, don't ever talk about Bone Thugs in the house.
DJ Paul
Thank you for that, Jelly. Thank you for that.
Bunny
His loyalty with you guys.
DJ Paul
Thank you very much.
Bunny
Like, we, for real got in an argument one time because I was like, are you fucking kidding me? Like, it's both that and he's like, no, you're in my house now. This is. It's 36 all day long.
DJ Paul
So we was. We was into it back in the day. And I don't know if you've seen our verses. We did verses. Like, yeah, two, three years ago. We got to.
Bunny
I did. I watched it.
DJ Paul
A physical fight on stage.
Bunny
That's when him and I got into that argument, was during the verses.
DJ Paul
Yeah, like, you know, like, and we. And us and Bone have been friends for years. We did our first. First song together with Crazy Bone on the Project Pat album back in 1997. The beast started in, like, 93, you know, so we've been, you know, cool ever since then. Bone is like my brother brothers. Like, I'm. I'm closer with. With some members of Bone than I am actual family members.
Bunny
They're actually supposed to be coming on the podcast.
DJ Paul
Yeah. I love those guys, man. So, like, even when that. When that happened, that day, day, like, some. Some of us looked at each other, like, we charged at each other. Like. Like, man, I'm not gonna hit you. Like, I'm not gonna hit you. Like, no, I'm not gonna hit you. We hugged.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
You know, we hugged. So it's like.
Bunny
I feel like Busy is the one who pops it off.
DJ Paul
He did do that business. Who did it? Because everybody else, man, I see these dudes every day. We got the same merch factory.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Like, we go to work together. We co workers. But I hadn't. I had never. I never really seen Busy and in real life except, like, in 1996 at Atlanta Airport.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
That was the only time I had ever seen him.
Bunny
They say he's really elusive. I met him one time, and it was like meeting an alien. He just was like. Like, he doesn't talk. I don't know. He's just got a very different.
DJ Paul
Yeah, yeah, he don't. He don't really talk. He's real quiet. You know, he's. He's really deep. You know, he's really deep with his thoughts and all that, you know, I like him, you know, I'M a fan.
Bunny
He's really cool.
DJ Paul
Cool. And I like how he started it out. I like how he started the verses he brought. Cause I started off, you know, we all friends with each other. So I started off like, oh, man, yeah, man, we've been to go on here for history and for the culture, you know, three, six mafia and bone. We're gonna have a good time and they're gonna do some songs and we're gonna do some songs. Business said that he started posting of him beating us up and shooting us and killing us. I'm like, like, oh, we playing prison rules now. Okay. Okay, we go. So I started posting stuff back. We would take each other heads and like put it on other little bodies from a movie where somebody get locked in a trunk or beat up or something. So he started it out. He. But it was good. Yeah, because he started really building it to be like a, a real, a real match, like a Mike Tyson, like a real versus, you know, fight or something. Yeah, he, he built it, took it there. So when we walked out on stage, you know, we was walking, shaking, hugging hands, and he was still in character. Like he was looking at me like. I'm like, okay, I thought this was just a, a publicity stunt, but I think this is serious. So he didn't even shake nobody hand. He was looking at like. I'm like, okay, this gonna be a fun night. And you know, so I, I just, I got back into it. He was looking at me mad. So I'm like, okay, if that's where you want to go, we can just go there like this. I can do the mean mad all day. Day.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
I was trying to be the nice dude, but if you want to do that, then we can just do that and this and that. So, you know, all night we was, you know, this and that, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad with him, you know. And then next thing I know, he just hauled off and threw the bottle of water at gangster food. Now he called us ugly first. He like, man, you ugly this and that. I was like, okay, a man called another man ugly. But okay, I get it. You pretty. You got long hair. I don't have have long hair. I used to have long hair. I don't have long hair no more. But, you know, so he called us ugly and then he threw the water bottle at gangster boo. So then I ran up to, you know, to block them and protect them, but I wasn't going to go over there and hit him, you know, I wasn't going to hit him. I wasn't going to hit nobody in that group because I'm cool with everybody in that group. So I just really just ran up just to, like, stop this dude. But then, you know, next day, I know my boys behind me kept running. They didn't stop because they don't hang out with them. So then they ran, and next thing I know, you people stopped punching this and that, and we. We broke it up.
Bunny
Was it still all for publicity or was it real on?
DJ Paul
No, that was real.
Bunny
Wow.
DJ Paul
Yeah, that was real.
Bunny
That was probably one of the most.
DJ Paul
Iconic people backstage with black eyes. Yeah, it was real.
Bunny
Holy.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it was real. Real. There was no. There wasn't a stun. It was real. And then they sent him backstage. He stayed backstage for a while to calm down, and we. We continued it. And then he walked back on stage. He walked straight over to me. You know, he apologized and he's like, man, you know this. I was like, man, I'm not tripping, bro. You're like, we all family here. We all hugged out and then. And then it's the first of them, you know, we sung the song together. The vibes was back good. And backstage, everybody was hugging and taking pictures. It was back cool, man. Me and Lazy Bone posted a picture backstage of us hugging each other, smiling. It was on every. It was everywhere.
Bunny
But if you. You know, it was one of the most iconic verses, and it actually. It was the best verse probably go down in history. So it was like, you know, whether Busy was just playing a character, we'll never know. It's. It was kind of worth it.
DJ Paul
Yeah, man, it was super worth, man. Shout out to Busy, man. You gave us the best verses of all times. And I love you, brother. Let's work. Yeah, but, yeah, it was. It was great. You know, I was glad. I wouldn't. I wouldn't take one. One minute of that back.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
But the only thing what was a little crazy about that moment is I'm looking in the audience, and the audience kind of got divided. So, like, the Bone fans was on that side of the stage, and the Three 6 Mafia fans was on this side of the stage, Right. So when the fight broke out, I saw little young dudes jumping on stage right from their side and from outside, like, ready to fight for fight.
Bunny
Oh.
DJ Paul
And I'm like, oh, like, somebody tell these young that everybody on this stage is about 50 years old. And it's not that serious. It's not that serious.
Bunny
But I also think what's cool about you guys reconnecting at the end and like, squashing it and being able to perform together is. It shows this generation who is so quick to pull a trigger. Like, hey, you guys can have beef. It can actually turn into a physical altercation and you guys can still hug it out and be cool because that's how it used to be back in the day.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
With us growing up, you would fight at the bus stop, fight at school, fight wherever, and then you would hug and you guys would either be friends or you guys would just never with each other again.
DJ Paul
Yeah, that's how it's supposed to be. And yeah, I love the way. And it was such a iconic nightmare. It was so fun.
Bunny
Yeah, I love that. So you're doing a song with Crazy Bone?
DJ Paul
Yeah, well, we're doing a whole album.
Bunny
Oh, okay.
DJ Paul
We got an album that'll come out the fall of this year. Year. But we got a single that drops this Friday called I Go Dumb. And it's like on some. Some 90s, you know, get Crunk, Get Crunk, Memphis, you know, old DJ Paul type. And we got a whole album that's coming out.
Bunny
I'm kind of excited for that, but.
DJ Paul
I got a lot of albums coming out. So I got an album with me and Young Buck that's coming out. I've been on Young Buck.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
For forever. So we got an album coming out. Out, and then I got a solo album coming out, an album being Crazy Bone. And then just. I've been producing a lot of people, like every day. I'm doing some with different people.
Bunny
For somebody who doesn't like rapping, you're certainly dropping a lot of projects.
DJ Paul
Yeah. Yeah. Well, because I like to. Like I said, I like to make the. The music, but when I gotta sit down and write to it.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
But the reason why I'm dropping so many projects this year is because, like I said, you know, reading, reading, even if I'm not reading a book, I follow. Oh, you know, listening to a book. I follow a lot of educational pages on Instagram. So, like, if I'm on this, I love those. I'm not just on there looking at all of the crazy.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
Me, I actually started unfollowing some of the page. I stopped all the pages that was showing people fighting. I stopped following all of those.
Bunny
Yeah. You don't want to bring that energy into your life. Yeah.
DJ Paul
Stop following all that.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
But, you know, just. Just watching, you know, news in Memphis and LA is. Or bring it right back into you. But it's some. Some of it, you gotta know, like, when you Told me about Jelly through his phone and in the. In the river. Like, I get it, but sometimes some stuff you want to hear, especially in Tennessee, because if they announced a tornado, Jelly, we probably want to start getting away from here.
Bunny
Yeah. No, my husband. The way my husband is thinking about it, he's like, somebody on my team will tell me. Like, he really is like, I don't give a fuck what's going on online. He's like, I'm living my life and nobody's gonna bother me.
DJ Paul
Yeah, that's the best way. Like, as long as he got a wife like you or somebody on the team, you can do that. But, like, if you don't have nobody, like, that's kind of dangerous.
Bunny
Yeah, for sure.
DJ Paul
It's kind of dangerous. So when I'm on social media, I'm looking at. At. I'm looking at. I got. I follow a lot of pages on educational stuff, food, homes, whatever, whatever. And I saw. I saw some on there one day that talked about procrastinating and, you know, and just like. And I sent this to all of the artists who I knew where this guy was talking about, you know, just sitting on music. Sitting on music. I'm like, man, I'm sitting on so much music. And I'm like, you know, I'm not gonna do that this year. So I set up. It took. It took about a week. Week. I set up, and I took all of my hard drives back all the way from 2008, and I just started pulling, putting all these beats and songs and song ideas on one hard drive. And then I made copies of that hard drive. It came out to be thousands of files. I had to scale that down to the hundreds. Then I scaled that down to, like, my favorite, maybe 10 beats for a bunch of buck, 10 beats for Crazy Bone and 10 beats for a Paul album, and, like, another 10 for a Paul solo, just instrumental album. And. And that's. And now I'm just. I'm getting to it. And I told myself that starting this Friday, I will bring out a new song every two to three weeks for the rest of this year.
Bunny
Hell, yeah. I'm also excited, though, because you said you're bringing beats from 2008. Like, that's gonna be, like, some OG.
DJ Paul
There's stuff in there from the 90s.
Bunny
DJ Paul Y. Yeah. That's exciting.
DJ Paul
Yeah, it is.
Bunny
Yeah. That's going to be nostalgic. I can't wait to hear these projects.
DJ Paul
Yeah. So that's. That's what I'm trying to do this year. Man, just every two. Y' all subscribe to my Spotify, follow me on social media. Every two to three weeks, I'm gonna bring some out. I don't care if it's just like we talked about earlier, about, about the musician bringing out just some, just some music to ride to with nothing on it, with no vocals on. I might just bring out a few of those. Close. Yeah, I'm just gonna bring out something.
Bunny
Do it. No, I do it. If anybody can do it, it's you.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
In closing, the last question I want to ask you is, in 50 years, when people talk about DJ Paul, what do you want your legacy to be? If you could see it through your eyes and paint the picture for anybody, what do you want them to remember about you?
DJ Paul
Man, just, just what I brought to the, the music industry, like the whole, whole creating crunk music, obviously creating crunk music and, and putting that whole energy, that whole tear the club up fight music energy into, into rap music, you know, that went on to go into, into other kinds of music. Like when I listen to, when you listen to some of the drum patterns and those little draft snares that, that I started, like, you hear, you hear that in country music these days. You hear that in all kind of stuff. Like, it's, it's all over the place. Like, you hear it in so much. You hear it in edm, you hear it in funk music. You hear it in everything. So, like, this whole, like little dirty, little distorted bass sound that I was playing around with as a kid is all over the place right now. And just, just, just that, just my contribution to, to music now.
Bunny
Do you feel like you've gotten your flowers enough?
DJ Paul
Of course.
Bunny
Good.
DJ Paul
I used to then until I made that most known unknown album. That's a little too many flowers. So. Yeah, yeah, I, I, I get it enough.
Bunny
Good.
DJ Paul
You know, some people always be like, oh, man, you never get mentioned and mentioned in this and that, but they just don't know. Like, I really don't like getting mentioned mentioned. Yeah, I'm like, cool. Like, I like to fly under the radar, like, you know, give me my awards and, you know, and this and that and, you know, you can shout me out here and there, but I don't need a, I don't want a lot of attention. I never wanted a lot of attention. I'm still the dude that go around with no security. And I'm sitting up in Whole Foods reading the ingredients on the back of ketchup. Like, I don't, I don't want to be like, known like, hey, man, man, that's you. You're the guy from 360 mafia. Like, oh, God. And I'm just trying to see. Okay, I'm. I'm telling him, like, you know, if it's at the top of the ingredients, there's more of it in here than anything else. So just so you know that if it's at the bottom, then it's less of that. So like right here it said cane sugar. That means it got. It's on the third row. That mean it got a lot of cane sugar in. So I'm more of that dude.
Bunny
So Paul's in his peaceful era, just ready to. To watch HGTV decorate houses. Just. You're in your peaceful era and we dig it.
DJ Paul
Yeah, I've been like that.
Bunny
Yeah, I love that. Thank you so much for coming on today.
DJ Paul
Thanks for having me.
Bunny
I'm so glad we finally got to sit down.
DJ Paul
Yeah, yeah. It's been a long time, but just. It's all about timing.
Bunny
Yeah, absolutely. I truly believe in that. So you want to shout out your socials or just google DJ Paul or how if you don't know.
DJ Paul
Yeah, social media mostly. All of them is at DJ Paul Kom like and King of Memphis. That's my YouTube. Subscribe to my YouTube. I'm always loading some stuff on there. The Instagram. I do talk back to the fans, my Twitter, all of DJ Paul Ko and Facebook. Whatever. Whatever. Yeah. Now I'm gonna start getting active on my. My twitch and my tick tock more. You told me.
Bunny
I told you.
DJ Paul
And they be always telling me to do twitch touched my twitch. I. I went on on T Pain's Twitch one day and, you know, I automatically started getting a lot of followers just because they were like, man, this dude is funny. And they was just watching. So I gotta start getting more active on this stuff, you know?
Bunny
You will. You'll do it. I. I feel like you've set a lot of goals for yourself this year, and I think you're gonna crush. It's only February.
DJ Paul
Yeah.
Bunny
And you're already crushing it.
DJ Paul
So it goes fast, though.
Bunny
Yeah.
DJ Paul
I don't even remember January.
Bunny
Yeah, no, well, I do. It was 84 days long. It was never gonna the.
DJ Paul
Exactly.
Bunny
Thank you so much, Paul and I can't wait to have you back.
DJ Paul
Yeah, for sure. Thank you.
Bunny
Thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of Don Blonde. I'll see you guys next week. Bye.
Podcast Title: Dumb Blonde
Host/Producer: Dumb Blonde Productions
Episode: TBT: DJ Paul
Release Date: August 14, 2025
In this throwback episode of the Dumb Blonde podcast, host Bunnie XO sits down with the legendary DJ Paul, a pivotal figure in the hip-hop industry and a founding member of the acclaimed group Three Six Mafia. Released on August 14, 2025, this episode delves deep into DJ Paul's personal journey, his rise in the music scene, his ventures outside of music, and his insights on longevity and personal growth.
Timestamp: 04:36 - 05:03
Bunnie expresses her excitement about finally having DJ Paul on the show, highlighting the challenges in coordinating a time to interview him. DJ Paul shares his eagerness to tour with Bunnie, emphasizing the logistical hurdles they've faced in the past.
Notable Quote:
"I'm ready to do the tour, man. We're gonna... we're gonna do it soon."
— DJ Paul [04:48]
Timestamp: 08:24 - 12:09
The conversation shifts to DJ Paul's feelings of imposter syndrome despite his vast accomplishments. He recounts investing heavily in real estate, leading to moments of self-doubt about deserving his success. Bunnie relates by sharing her own experiences with similar feelings, supported by her husband Jay.
Notable Quote:
"Do you ever get imposter syndrome after you've... everything you've accomplished in this life...?"
— Bunnie [08:25]
Response:
"Yeah, I just had this a couple of days ago... I was like, do I really deserve this?"
— DJ Paul [08:50]
Timestamp: 18:22 - 28:20
DJ Paul takes Bunnie back to his childhood in Memphis during the 80s and 90s, painting a vivid picture of the city's influence on his music and persona. He discusses the prevalence of violence, drug dealing, and the impact of witnessing such activities from a young age. The conversation touches on his close-knit family, including numerous brothers and sisters, and the deep bond he shared with his mother.
Notable Quote:
"I grew up in Memphis in the 80s and 90s, and the 80s and 90s were elite. Yeah, it was the best."
— DJ Paul [19:19]
Further Insight:
"We was living well. I was the youngest... We had cable when cable first came out... watching MTV when it first came out."
— DJ Paul [25:54]
Timestamp: 32:29 - 54:10
DJ Paul recounts his entry into the music industry during high school, leading to the creation of mixtapes to promote their music. This grassroots approach eventually culminated in the formation of Three Six Mafia alongside Juicy J and Lord Infamous. He shares anecdotes about early tours, such as a wild concert in West Memphis, Arkansas, where they faced rowdy crowds and unexpected confrontations.
Notable Quote:
"We started working on that restaurant in 2015, and we didn't open up to two years ago."
— DJ Paul [99:29]
Concert Anecdote:
"We went to West Memphis, Arkansas, to do this concert, and next thing I know, it's like 900 people... somebody threw a skate at us... Crunchy turned around and pulled out a gun..."
— DJ Paul [52:31]
Timestamp: 80:40 - 94:48
A significant portion of the discussion centers around DJ Paul's commitment to sobriety. He shares his journey of staying clean from drugs and alcohol, emphasizing the challenges and the positive impact it has had on his life and career. Both Bunnie and DJ Paul reflect on the importance of continuous learning, consistency, and adapting to maintain longevity in the ever-evolving music industry.
Notable Quote:
"Now, this Friday... I'm gonna bring out a new song every two to three weeks for the rest of this year."
— DJ Paul [117:06]
On Longevity:
"It's about just as it's about just teaching yourself something new. Always educating yourself on something new about life."
— DJ Paul [88:25]
Timestamp: 99:27 - 120:55
DJ Paul discusses his entrepreneurial ventures beyond music, notably his restaurant The Hideaway on Rodeo Drive, which offers upscale Latin cuisine with private VIP areas to accommodate celebrity clientele discreetly. He also touches on his prolific music production plans, including collaborations with artists like Crazy Bone and Young Buck, and his strategies for consistently releasing new music by leveraging his extensive beat library.
Notable Quote:
"It's the only restaurant on Rodeo Drive... you can go there and get a wagyu taco if you want to."
— DJ Paul [100:03]
Future Music Plans:
"I'm gonna start getting more active on this stuff... I'm gonna bring out something every two to three weeks."
— DJ Paul [117:06]
Timestamp: 121:21 - End
As the conversation winds down, Bunnie asks DJ Paul about his desired legacy. He expresses pride in his contributions to the music industry, particularly in pioneering the crunk music genre and influencing various modern music styles with his signature drum patterns and beats. DJ Paul aspires to be remembered for his innovative impact and his dedication to evolving music.
Notable Quote:
"I just brought to the music industry... creating crunk music and... that whole tear the club up fight music energy into rap music... that's all over the place right now."
— DJ Paul [117:21]
Bunnie and DJ Paul conclude the episode on a positive note, celebrating his achievements and looking forward to future collaborations.
This episode of Dumb Blonde offers an intimate glimpse into DJ Paul's life, from his tumultuous upbringing in Memphis to his monumental rise in the music industry. Through candid conversations, listeners gain insight into the resilience, creativity, and relentless drive that have defined DJ Paul's career. His reflections on sobriety and personal growth provide inspiration, while his discussions on legacy underscore the lasting impact he's had on music and culture.
Connect with DJ Paul:
Note: This summary excludes advertisement segments and non-content sections to maintain focus on the core discussions between Bunnie and DJ Paul.