Three 6 Mafia Founding Member Dies at 40

UPDATE Lord Infamous "passed away in his sleep from a heart attack," DJ Paul told THR.

Lord Infamous, a founding member of rap group Three 6 Mafia, died on Friday evening. He was 40. The artist, whose birth name was Ricky Dunigan, passed away during a visit at his mother's house in Memphis. 

"He passed away in his sleep from a heart attack," his half-brother, Three 6 Mafia member DJ Paul, told The Hollywood Reporter by phone. "He said he was tired, he wanted to sleep. He sat down at the kitchen table, put his head in his arms to lay down ... to get some sleep."

His mother had left the house for several hours and when she returned she found the rapper dead at the table. Paul learned the news after calls Saturday morning from the rapper's mother and girlfriend. 

"He'll be remembered as a legend, everybody knew him as a legend, an icon," Paul told THR. "This year was going to make our twenty-fourth year rapping together. His music, our music that we made together, was truly before its time." 

Three 6 Mafia recorded albums such as Mystic Stylez (1995) and When the Smoke Clears: Sixty 6, Sixty 1 (2000). In 2006, DJ Paul along with Juicy J (Jordan Houston) won an Oscar for best original song for the Hustle & Flow soundtrack title "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp." 

The original members of the group reformed for a reunion project, Da Mafia 6ix, that resulted in the album 6ix Commandments. The group was getting ready for a show next week outside of Memphis. "He got a chance to see the group back together like he wanted to and be back in the studio with everybody and be back making music like he always liked to do," Paul recounted. 

Exclusive: DJ Paul's publicist confirms Lord Infamous' death after Gangsta Boo tweets about the Three 6 Mafia member's passing.

According to DJ Paul's and Da Mafia 6ix publicist Dove Clark, Three 6 Mafia member Lord Infamous passed away last night (December 20) at his mother's home in Memphis.

"He did pass away at his mothers house last night in Memphis," Clark said during an exclusive interview with HipHopDX. "The cause of death is unknown. We're actually trying to figure out how he died and that is all the information we currently have."

Three 6 groupmate Gangsta Boo also tweeted about the matter, calling the death a "tragedy."

"Rest in Peace Lord Infamous," she said via the social media site. "Please respect the family and dear friends during this tragedy."

Raider Klan headman SpaceGhostPurrp, who appeared on Three 6 Mafia offshoot group, Da Mafia Six's latest release, 6ix Commandments, relayed his thoughts over Twitter about Infamous' death.

"R.I.P. Uncle Lord Infamous," Purrp said. "Y'all stay blessed man #RIPUncleScarecrow."

Lord Infamous was one of the founding members of Three 6 Mafia. Along with Juicy J and DJ Paul, Infamous appeared on all of the group's early releases and would release his debut solo effort, Lord Of Terror, in 1994, which preceded the group's breakthrough independent release, 1995's Mystic Stylez. He was the younger half-brother of DJ Paul and also participated in creating 6ix Commandments, which was released last month.