# The 7 Best Memphis Rap Tracks of All Time

Memphis in the early nineties, on cassettes sold hand to hand: murky four-track tapes, horror-film samples, triplet hi-hats and a chanted hook — the blueprint for trap, made a decade before anyone in Atlanta used the word.

- **Origin:** Memphis, Tennessee, 1993
- **Tempo:** 130–150 BPM
- **Also known as:** memphis horrorcore, three 6 mafia, phonk
- **Tracks:** 7
- **Updated:** 2026-08-31
- **Canonical page:** https://waxonia.com/genre/memphis-rap/

## The list

### 1. [Tear Da Club Up Thugs](https://waxonia.com/artist/tear-da-club-up-thugs/) — [Slob on My Knob](https://waxonia.com/track/tear-da-club-up-thugs--slob-on-my-knob/)

*1999*

Originally a 1992 Juicy J tape track, and one of the most quoted verses in Southern rap. The triplet flow here is what Migos was doing twenty years later.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Tear%20Da%20Club%20Up%20Thugs%20Slob%20on%20My%20Knob) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zI9VSvxY3Ho)

### 2. [Three 6 Mafia](https://waxonia.com/artist/three-6-mafia/) — [Mystic Stylez](https://waxonia.com/track/three-6-mafia--mystic-stylez/)

*1995 · Prophet*

The album that made the sound a scene, and it sounds like it was recorded in a basement because it was. Occult imagery played completely straight.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Three%206%20Mafia%20Mystic%20Stylez) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=E00IhxUsK3k)

### 3. [DJ Squeeky](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-squeeky/) — [Sweet Robbery](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-squeeky--sweet-robbery/)

*1994*

Squeeky's tapes are where the slowed, chopped, hi-hat-driven Memphis beat is first fully formed. The most influential producer almost nobody outside the city can name.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Squeeky%20Sweet%20Robbery) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=ttf9Kd_MbhQ)

### 4. [Tommy Wright III](https://waxonia.com/artist/tommy-wright-iii/) — [Playa Hataz](https://waxonia.com/track/tommy-wright-iii--playa-hataz/)

*1996*

Self-released, self-produced, self-distributed. The tape underground's purest practitioner, and rediscovered wholesale by the phonk producers of the 2010s.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Tommy%20Wright%20III%20Playa%20Hataz) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=fd3MuK6-W5k)

### 5. [Gangsta Boo](https://waxonia.com/artist/gangsta-boo/) — [Where Dem Dollas At](https://waxonia.com/track/gangsta-boo--where-dem-dollas-at/)

*1998 · Relativity*

The First Lady of Three 6, and the hardest voice on the roster. She held her own in a crew that gave her no room to.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Gangsta%20Boo%20Where%20Dem%20Dollas%20At) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=J1vxn1ica14)

### 6. [Three 6 Mafia](https://waxonia.com/artist/three-6-mafia/) — [Late Nite Tip](https://waxonia.com/track/three-6-mafia--late-nite-tip/)

*1997 · Relativity*

The melodic side, and evidence the crew could write a hook when it suited them. They won an Academy Award nine years later, which nobody predicted.

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/Three%206%20Mafia%20Late%20Nite%20Tip) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi22dVn-B14)

### 7. [DJ Paul](https://waxonia.com/artist/dj-paul/) — [North Memphis Area](https://waxonia.com/track/dj-paul--north-memphis-area/)

*1994*

Before the group consolidated, when the tapes were still local geography set to a beat. Paul's production is already unmistakable.

Also on: [1994](https://waxonia.com/theme/nineteen-ninety-four/).

[Search Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/search/DJ%20Paul%20North%20Memphis%20Area) · [YouTube Music](https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=cpzmsHB0INE)

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