Lola Chantrelle Mitchell[1] (August 7, 1979 – January 1, 2023), better known by her stage name Gangsta Boo, was an American rapper and the second female member (after K-9) of the Memphis-based hip hop group Three 6 Mafia. She left the group and label sometime in 2002, months after the release of her second album, Both Worlds *69, due to money disputes and issues regarding promotion of her album. She subsequently released mixtapes alongside artists like La Chat and Yelawolf, along with several solo projects. In her later years, she collaborated with artists such as Eminem, Latto, GloRilla and Run the Jewels. Gangsta Boo has been referred to as a pioneer of female southern rap music.
The “Queen of Memphis.” she was “Lady Boo.” But most often, she was “Gangsta Boo,” —
The Memphis-born artist began rapping as a teenager, and was the second female rapper to join the group. She appeared on their debut studio album, Mystic Stylez, on through 2001’s Choices: The Album. By the late Nineties, she was also carving out a solo career, beginning with 1998’s Enquiring Minds, which reached Number 46 on the Billboard 200 and spawned her hit “Where Dem Dollas At?”
Her sophomore effort, Both Worlds *69, climbed up to Number 29. Gangsta Boo’s third album, Enquiring Minds II: The Soap Opera, arrived in 2003.
She also dropped a number of mixtapes, including collaborative ones with DJ Fletch, Trap-A-Holics, La Chat, and one with Three 6 Mafia spinoff, Da Mafia 6ix, 6ix Commandments.
Over nearly three decades, she made countless guest appearances on other artists’ singles, a testament to her influence. In December, she teamed up with Latto and GloRilla for the single “Fuck the Club Up,” a play on Three 6 Mafia’s “Tear Da Club Up.” She also appeared on Run the Jewels’ “Walking in the Snow” from 2020’s RTJ4. “Love you Lola thank you for your friendship,” El-P posted, including a broken heart emoji, on Twitter.
In an interview published in Billboard last month, Gangsta Boo spoke of her legacy. “
I would honestly say that I have to admit, respectfully and humbly, that I am the blueprint. I hear my cadence in a lot of men and female rappers… my sound is a Memphis sound. It’s a Gangsta Boo sound, it’s a Three 6 Mafia sound. So, I am the blueprint and I wear that badge proudly as fuck.
On the first day of 2023, Mitchell, 43, was found dead in a friend’s home in Memphis. Hip Hop gains another angel. The soul the spirit lives on. Be sure to stream at the link below, Let’s keep The Queen alive.
https://music.apple.com/us/artist/gangsta-boo/28074804
