As much as Juicy J is known for his work, both as a solo artist and with his Three 6 Mafia collective, the Memphis native is also a phenomenal producer, which plenty of classic records to his name. One of those is UGK and Outkast’s “Int’l Players Anthem,” and in a recent interview with HipHopDX, Juicy J revealed that Three 6 Mafia was supposed to appear on the classic record. The Stay Trippy rapper talked about being replaced on the song, saying, “I was like, ‘Man, God dang,’ because, see, what was crazy, me and Paul did a verse on it at first.” He then detailed how and why the label blocked Three 6 Mafia’s original verse.
“The label had denied the clearance. I was like, ‘What the f*ck? Why you all didn’t let me know?’ Man I was ready to go up there and f*cking cause hell at that label,” he said. “Who the hell authorized that? I was like, ‘Who would authorize something dumb like that?’” He added, “But anyway, so then they put Outkast on it and I didn’t even know.” After hearing the news, Juicy J approached UGK about getting Three 6 Mafia back on the song, but, of course, the attempt failed.
“I was like, ‘What happened to our verses?’ [UGK] were like, ‘Man, they didn’t clear y’all, man. So we put Outkast on it.’ I was like, ‘F*ck! Put our verses back on it,” Juicy J said. “André 3000 and muthaf*cking Big Boi, like legendary — I was like ‘Man,’ I called that label — I ain’t even going to tell you all the sh*t I said. I was so f*cking mad.”
Juicy J concluded that the reason Three 6 Mafia was blocked from the track was due to a combination of the industry, “politics,” and the Memphis group’s success at the time. Despite his frustrations, Juicy J made sure to show love to Outkast.
“Don’t get me wrong. You know, me and Paul produced the beat. So I ain’t tripping, but I wanted to have my verse on that song,” he said. “You know what I’m saying? But yeah, it’s definitely one of the all-time favorite — all-time greats. Look, man, we’ve done a lot, though. We done change the game, man.” He added, “A lot of stuff just sound like our stuff now, man, which I love but I ain’t going to lie. It’s cool, man.”
(via HipHopDX)