(t5!) Heroes Of The Zeroes Singles: #30: Three 6 Mafia f. 8ball And MJG - Stay Fly (2005)

 

One of the weirdest underground-mainstream clashes of the zeroes is when Three 6 Mafia, rap cult favorites at the time, got nominated for an Oscar for Best Song. It was surreal watching the group perform "It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp" in front of Judi Dench and Joaquin Phoenix, while the guest female vocalist subs the word “witches” for “bitches”. It almost seemed like an SNL skit, but they not only got away with the performance, they actually won, beating Kathleen York's "In The Deep" and Dolly Parton's "Travelin' Thru". “I think it just got a little easier out here for a pimp!” host Jon Stewart befittingly declared.



Obviously, as funny as the moment was, every Three 6 Mafia enthusiast in all probability would agree that the song was kind of mediocre, not exactly their best. I wouldn’t really call myself a fan—I knew some of their classics like “Sippin’ On Some Syrup”. However, the Three 6 Mafia single that roped me in for good was their real mainstream breakthrough, “Stay Fly”. It wasn’t an Oscar winner or anything, but there are reasons why “Stay Fly” captured the hearts of new fans: it lacked the righteousness and the questionable social conscience that made Oscar voters take notice, and it was infinitely cooler in every respect than “Pimp”. In fact, it was infinitely cooler than most songs in the zeroes (only 29 more songs were cooler, the way I see it).

In “Stay Fly”, Three 6 Mafia has dedicated four minutes to honor weed, and as you probably already know, there have been legions of hip-hop tracks devoted to weed. I doubt, though, if any of these sticky-icky songs have been as aspiring and as epic as “Stay Fly” (originally titled “Stay High”, although I was always more partial to the way the former sounded). I mean, have you listened to the beat lately? That Willie Hutch “Tell Me Why Has Our Love Turned Cold” sample with the gliding, high-pitched strings, the faint chanting vocals, and the booming ominous bass under it? The whole thing sounds like it needs a launch code from two people to initiate. The “Stay Fly” beat is almost operatic in its extravagance; the kind of beat Puff Daddy would’ve hired someone to kill for in his zenith. Three 6 Mafia could’ve been rapping about their grocery list over it and it would still have resonated from every strip club, car stereo, and hipster party during early 2006.

But the beat wasn’t enough for Three 6 Mafia to properly cover the importance of their favorite substance of choice. They even recruited some of their more well-known friends, getting Young Buck and 8Ball & MJG to give their two cents. It was a six-person party, each getting one verse, and their diversity of approach is what keeps the song its chug. You’re not a fan of DJ Paul’s loud proclamation? May I interest you in Young Buck’s laid back, straightforward style? What about MJG and his inebriated euphoria and verbally agile delivery? But having said that, even with all six of them on the poster, the beat’s the star of the show. But it’s still fun to listen to Southern rap’s finest do their thing.

However, a song this enormous needs something to anchor it down, and “Stay Fly” gets one in the chorus: “I gotta stay fly-I-I-I...I-I-I-I-I/’til I die-I-I-I...I-I-I-I-I”. You can’t credit the hook for being adventurous, for sure, but it sure is catchy and uncomplicated enough to catch on as a chant in any social situation. The monotone, robotic nature of the “I-I-I” part of the hook gives you a head rush similar to the untouchable buzz you get after toking up. Unexpectedly, it became some sort of a trend four years later in 2009, when the android syllables started to show up in charts in songs like Jamie Foxx’s “Blame It” and Mariah Carey’s “Obsessed”.

The Oscar Three 6 Mafia won didn’t inevitably have an absolute impact on anything. As usual, Melissa Etheridge and the sappy lead singer of The Frames were being nominated before UGK or Raekwon get nods. Unfortunately, as prosperous as “Stay Fly” was (reached #13 in the charts), the three never actually followed it up; their greatest attempt was with the lukewarm “Lolli Lolli (Pop That Body)”. It’s probably for the best. We wouldn’t want to hear them singing about who else it is hard out there for (for example, “It’s Hard Out There for Tiger Woods”, “It’s Hard Out There For American automobile companies”, stuff like that). I’d rather hear them do epics about weed.