Gangsta Boo

Emerging from Memphis's rap underground, Gangsta Boo swiftly expanded her reach into broader audiences as a highly influential figure. She participated in Three 6 Mafia from the time of their 1995 debut Mystic Stylez onward and launched her solo career in 1998 with the Billboard-charting Enquiring Minds. Over subsequent years she collaborated with OutKast, Eminem, Gucci Mane, Run the Jewels, and numerous other major hip-hop artists. Her distinctive fearlessness, charisma, and raw talent shaped rap at large while opening doors for later female rappers in particular. Gangsta Boo passed away in 2023 during work on her forthcoming album The BooPrint.

Born Lola Chantrelle Mitchell in Memphis, Tennessee, she began rapping at age 14. At 16 she became part of Three 6 Mafia while the collective was still forming and remained a contributor through 2001, when she departed to concentrate on solo projects. Her debut Enquiring Minds included input from several Three 6 associates, a pattern repeated on the 2001 follow-up Both Worlds *69; both albums reached the Billboard Top 200, while 2003's Enquiring Minds II: The Soap Opera also achieved solid commercial results. By then Gangsta Boo's stature as a defining voice of Memphis rap was firmly set, leading to frequent guest appearances on other artists' recordings throughout the 2000s and 2010s. Alongside occasional mixtapes she joined longtime collaborator La Chat for the 2014 release Witch. Into the 2020s she continued issuing singles and featured on tracks such as 2022's "Big Momma" with Hannah Monds and the ensemble cut "FTCU" alongside Latto and GloRilla. Gangsta Boo died on January 1st, 2023, at age 43, while actively developing new material.