When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1, released in 2000, is one of the many classic albums that exist past and through Three 6 Mafia’s legacy. The album and continued fame moved the local legends from regional names to mainstream artists, able to satisfy listeners looking for the real darkness of southern Black life that wasn’t being played on the radio. When The Smoke Clears ended up being the end of an era; it was the last album featuring all of the group’s original members, and it was also their first album that went platinum, leading DJ Paul and Juicy J to being unlikely Oscar winners and reality stars. It's a soundtrack of a hot, muggy mid-July day with the Three 6 Mafia crew as they encounter the demons of their own making and the ones always right behind them.