Whose idea was Three 6 Mafia?

OK, real quick, average BU student attending the Spring Fest Concert featuring Three 6 Mafia this Saturday at Nickerson Field, I have a few questions to ask you: Do you know any of the group’s “hits” before “Stay Fly”?

Do you know what the title of their first album was? Do you at least remember the first single off that album?

Do you even know that Three 6 Mafia is now technically “Two 4” or “Two 2” Mafia, because one group member left? And do you even know who left the group?

Finally, the most important moment in this inquisitive interval when I must get an answer from you: Why are you even attending this in the first place?

These questions are all justified because the people apart from the Programming Council, which is bringing this now-“mainstream” Memphis group (correction, duo) to campus this weekend, probably don’t know the answers to any of those questions. Forget “probably” — they don’t know a damn thing about this group before the year 2005. And it’s both idiotic and ridiculous that they are pinning their hopes on DJ Paul and Juicy J, a pair they have just as much knowledge about as that Miss Teen South Carolina chick did about South Africa and Iraq last year.

Before I continue jabbing such a badly thought-out idea, I must commend the PC for actually bringing any semblance of rap figures to campus. In fact, it’s been a historic month for Boston University to say the least, in its sudden location of an inner hip-hop soul, as Mugar Library’s Gotlieb Center brought the likes of Talib Kweli and Chuck D (though they were part of a panel discussion, not a concert) for its three-day celebration of the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination.

The likelihood of rap artists appearing on this campus in modern times (and that doesn’t include the shameful promotion for Chicago rapper Rhymefest last year, when a maximum of 15 people attended his BU Central appearance) were about as slim as the Yankees calling Fenway Park their home stadium. The excuses for this not happening were plenty: not enough money, people won’t know these rappers, Agganis Arena won’t allow it (which is laughable considering the fact BU owns it), still not enough money.

But somehow, all of a magical sudden, we somehow have the resources to bring a duo that to this date has had only two certified platinum albums in its 14-year career, and lost basically all its steam with the departure of Crunchy Black. And though its biggest career achievement was an Academy Award of all things, “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” was never radio-friendly, club-playable or even good enough concert material in universal hip-hop minds.

While Babson garnered Common last week, Northeastern hosted Nas and Lupe Fiasco last year and (in the most blatant slap in the face of the year) Kweli ventures to Boston College after BU won the rights to a performance from him in the MTVU/Eventful U contest, this school decides to pick a pair in the twilight of its career.

Now only fools will think that this whole piece is a slam on Juice and Paul, because I’m about to give approbation for what the two have accomplished.

Forget the Oscar, because if you were familiar with even 20 percent of their careers, you would know that they have accomplished much more than that. Along with Crunchy and the absurdly forgotten trio Lord Infamous, Koopsta Knicca and Gangasta Boo, the two remaining members of the group put Memphis on the hip-hop map. To not only stay relevant but increase their notoriety in the brutal music industry for 14 years is remarkable. And yes, Three 6 Mafia originally did have six members in the group, all the way up until 1999.

However, I take it that neither the Programming Council nor most of the people reading this perspective were aware of that, as well as the answers to those questions in the beginning. But there is one thing they do know about the headliners for Saturday’s event: They got a reality show on MTV!

Certainly in this case (more so than in Apple’s version), PC does not include a bunch of MACs.