HUF, the skate label Keith Hufnagel started in San Francisco, is teaming up with Three 6 Mafia, the Memphis rap group that somehow went from underground horror-rap tapes to an Academy Award. HUF Japan first teased it on X with a short line that already had the right energy: "Most Known. huf® x Three 6 Mafia later this week." Now HUF has posted the full story on its official Japan site, and the date is locked: Friday, October 9, at 10:00 AM Japan time (that's Thursday, October 8, at 9:00 PM ET) at HUF stores in Japan and on hufworldwide.jp.
Here's what's in it. HUF lists a blacked-out varsity jacket, a football jersey, sweatpants, a washed all-over-print thermal called the Torched LS Thermal, two graphic tees (the Sizzurp Tee and the Mystic Styles Tee), a collab skate deck and, yes, a ceramic double cup. The graphics pull from the artwork for Mystic Stylez and When the Smoke Clears, several pieces riff on "Sippin' On Some Syrup," and there's a nod to Hypnotize Minds, the label DJ Paul and Juicy J started. Not everything goes everywhere: the jacket, jersey, sweatpants and the two tees are only at the Harajuku, Osaka and Fukuoka HUF stores plus hufworldwide.jp, while the thermal, the cup and the deck are spread across more stores. HUF hasn't posted prices, and there's still no US drop time, even though the collection page is up on hufworldwide.com.
The campaign, shot by Alex Papke, remakes a classic early-2000s Three 6 Mafia group portrait with the Escalade from the "Who Run It" video. The lookbook takes it further and loads that Escalade's trunk with Three 6 Mafia CDs, cassettes and VHS tapes, a tribute to the days when you sold your music out of your car. That trunk shot is the best thing HUF has made this season. It looks less like a fashion photo and more like a crime scene where the only thing stolen was your weekend.
The teaser leaned into the same history: a gold chain with a "Hypnotize Minds" pendant swinging over a dark skyline lit red by fire, credited to @parqj and @by.kendall, with music by @jerrylangii. "Most Known" points straight at Most Known Unknown, the 2005 album that took Three 6 mainstream. Three 6 Mafia formed in Memphis in the early '90s, built the sound and look of the city's underground scene, and later became the first hip-hop group to win an Oscar.
It has been a busy fall for HUF. Orbit has already covered HUF x Neon Genesis Evangelion, HUF x Toyota Land Cruiser and HUF x TAION. Three 6 Mafia is the first big music name in that run, and now that we've seen the product, it's the one with the most attitude. Skate and rap have shared the same streets and the same graphic tees for decades. A skate deck sitting on a pile of Memphis tapes is about the most honest way to say that out loud. The double cup will sell out first, and nobody should pretend to be surprised.
At ONENESS: shop HUF at ONENESS.
Source: HUF's official huf x Three 6 Mafia story on hufworldwide.jp (October 7), the official HUF JAPAN teaser on X, and HUF's collection pages on hufworldwide.com and hufworldwide.jp, with early release coverage from Fullress. Images: still from the official HUF JAPAN teaser and an official huf x Three 6 Mafia lookbook photo, used as published.