Mac Dre
File:Mac Dre.jpg
Background information
Birth name Andre Hicks
Also known as Mac Drizzle, Mac Dreezy, Mac Dregos, Mac Drevious, Thizzelle Washington, Furl, Furly, Mr. Furly, Muhammad Al Boo Boo, The Genie of the Lamp, Thizz King, Pill Clinton, Andre Macassi, Street Sampras, Ronald Dregan, The Make it Happen Cap'n, Andre McEnroe, The Thizzard of Oz, The Mac Named Dre, Dre Van Halen, The M.A.C. D.R.E, and Thizzy Marley
Born (1970-07-05)July 5, 1970
Oakland, California, U.S.
Origin

San Francisco Bay Area, California, U.S.

Vallejo, California, U.S.
Died November 1, 2004(2004-11-01) (aged 34)
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Genres Hip hop, West Coast hip hop, hyphy, gangsta rap
Occupations Rapper, record producer, screenwriter
Years active 1988–1993; 1997–2004
Labels Thizz Entertainment
Associated acts Andre Nickatina, E-40, Keak da Sneak, Baby Bash, B-Legit, San Quinn, Yukmouth, PSD, Mac Mall, Richie Rich, Smoov-E (aka Eli Meltzer), Too Short
Website www.myspace.com/macdre

Andre Louis Hicks (July 5, 1970 – November 1, 2004), better known by his stage name Mac Dre, was an American rapper, and the initial founder of Thizz Entertainment, and the now defunct Romp Productions.[1][2]

Contents


Biography [link]

Andre Hicks was born in Oakland, California and moved to Vallejo at a young age. In the early 1980s, Hicks began his rap career under the stage name "Mac Dre", and by the middle of the 1990s his music had gained widespread popularity throughout the Bay Area thanks in part to the independent music distributor: .[1] He started robing pizza parlors in vallejo California at the age of 25

Mac Dre recorded his first three albums between 1989 and 1991.[1] In 1992 Mac Dre was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery.[1] At the time Hicks owned the record label, Romp Productions.[1] His many references to "Romper Room" in his songs, bore a similarity the "Romper Room Gang", a group of robbers who had been victimizing banks and pizza parlors in Vallejo.[citation needed] Following allegations by authorities about his membership in the gang, Hicks was sentenced to five years in prison.[1][3] He refused a deal offered by law enforcement authorities that would have required him to inform on other gang members.

Romper Room Gang [link]

Growing up near the Crest, Dre was subject to the crime and poverty that comes with living in a low-income area that had been destroyed by crack cocaine. Dre’s inventive lyrics and ability to articulate life in the Crest gave him instant credibility with his underground audience. However, before he could reach that audience, Mac Dre needed money, which is where his gang, the Romper Room, came in.

According to Detective McGraw of the Vallejo Police Department (VPD), in a Black Entertainment Television (BET) documentary entitled American Gangster: Romper Room Gang, the Romper Room gang was a tightly knit band from the Crest. Two of these boys, Jamal Diggs and Simon “Kilo Curt” Curtis, would later mature into the main players in the Romper Room gang. Within the documentary’s narrative, Diggs states that the Romper Room gang’s name came from a kid’s show, and also due to the younger boys pulling pranks on the older “homeboys” from the gangs in the area. Soon, the gang’s criminal activities would evolve from drug dealing to bank robbery while Dre began to evolve from a neighborhood kid to an underground rap star.

According to Diggs, Dre’s first appearance as a rapper was at a local Boys Club. By the late 1980s, Dre had released his first song, “Too Hard For the Fucking Radio.” It was on a cassette tape, and was passed around until it became an “underground sensation.” Based on the success of “Too Hard For the Fucking Radio,” Dre released his first album, Young Black Brother, which coincided with the time the Romper Room gang began committing robberies, which police believed were financing Dre’s music.

During the early 1990s, the Romper Room gang needed a more lucrative way to earn money, and began doing “licks,” or robberies, of pizza parlors. According to Diggs, it was “easy money” if you picked the right pizza parlor, and robbed it at the right time. Diggs articulated that the robberies would be conducted in “takeover style” in which the robbers would quickly enter, secure any patrons and employees, demand money, and leave quickly. Diggs states that everything was always done in the same fashion, quick and methodical.

The VPD had received several leads that made them believe that those responsible were tied to the Crest, began surveilling the Crest, and following those who came out of it. Since there were only two ways in and out, it was a naturally “insulated” community, which made surveilling it easier in some aspects, and harder in others. According to Diggs, they all knew they were being watched, and they were being stopped constantly. Curtis claimed “they aren’t even calling us by our government names;” instead they referred to all three by the names they rapped under. Curtis also claimed that due to the “harassment” from the VPD, Dre wrote Punk Police, which taunted the VPD’s inability to arrest the criminals responsible for the robberies, and detailed the harassment Dre faced.

All three believed that they were still safe, since there was no way that law enforcement linked them to any specific crimes. That would change when the FBI and VPD found an informant. According to FBI Agent Michael Repucci, during the trial of Diggs, Dre, and Curtis, the FBI and VPD’s informant, Cory DeAndre Dunn, was used by the three men to steal getaway cars used in the robberies. The FBI rented a car for Dunn to claim that he had stolen it, and used a “trustee” at the jail to make the car appear as if it had been stolen by altering the steering column. Dunn was then given the car, and was supposed to give it to Dre, Diggs, and Curtis to use in a robbery in Fresno. According to Detective Becker of VPD, Dunn was “wired for sound,” and that during the drive from Vallejo to a hotel in Fresno, Diggs, Dre, and Curtis discussed the robbery, which was scheduled to take place March 26.

According to FBI Agent Lindsay Gentry, who worked the surveillance on March 26, there were three people in the car, Dre, Diggs, and Curtis, along with the informant. Gentry observed the car enter downtown Fresno where it made numerous circles, first going past the Bank of America, then the First Interstate Bank. According to Gentry, there were numerous vehicles and an airplane involved in the surveillance, which were necessary since Diggs, Curtis, and Dre engaged in counter surveillance techniques that consisted of rapid lane changes and erratic driving including excessive speeding, and slowing down unnecessarily.

According to Fresno Police Department Detective Frank Rose, once the suspect felt safe enough, they went to the bank intending to rob it. However, once they arrived at the Bank of America, Diggs observed a news van, just as he was exiting the vehicle to commit the robbery. Diggs, not sure what was taking place, immediately got back into the car and sped off. All three men were arrested shortly there after.[4]

While awaiting trial, Dre spent a year in the Fresno County Jail, where he recorded, via telephone, most of Back In Da Hood. Dre also gave an interview via phone to 106 KMEL, a Bay Area based radio station, to inform people of the circumstances of his arrest. During the interview, Dre mentioned that Dunn was an FBI informant. KMEL broadcasted the entire interview, including the portion labeling Dunn a snitch. The next day the FBI showed up and spoke with the owners of the station, warning them of the consequences if the informant’s name was broadcast again.

During his trial, Dre explained his song, “Punk Police,” which was played during opening statements. According to Dre, his song was a way for him to express how he was being treated by the VPD, and the criminal justice system. Dre claimed that he was innocent in the song: “I’m not criminal minded, punk police. I’m a dope rhyme dealer, not a money stealer.” Dre went on to make fun of the VPD’s efforts, as they were “steady accusing, but these cases you losin,” which Dre said meant they were constantly filing charges but could prove nothing. Dre even went so far to call out a specific member of the VPD, “Ima dedicate this to Detective McGraw,” because Dre felt McGraw was the one pushing for the arrest of the Romper Room gang members.[4]

Dre felt the police brought a case against him because they had to accuse someone and because he was black, rapping:

Punk police are nothing clean,

Look how they did Rodney King.

In every neighborhood, state, city and town, a crooked policeman can be found. Off duty he neva would squab hard,

But give 'em that gat, badge, and that squad car,

Then it's jack time, Fuck wit a black time.

I'm talkin real man, listen to a Mac rhyme.

During questioning, Dre stated that there was a Romper Room gang; however, Dre claimed he was not a member. Dre stated that the Romper Room Gang came into existence when he was sixteen. When I first started hanging out in the Crest, the older generation, the older guys used to call the younger people in the Crest the Romper Room because they used to ride around happy-go-lucky. They named them after the kids TV show “The Romper Room.”

Dre also stated that there were requirements to join, two of which was growing up and living in the Crest, neither of which he met. While Dre claimed he was not a part of these robberies, law enforcement’s primary suspects were financing his music, and that information coupled with an informant’s testimony was enough to send him to prison. In the end, VPD Detective Nichelman stated that the task force believed there were forty-seven robberies that could be attributed to the Romper Room Gang. By 1992, the FBI and the Vallejo Gang Suppression Task Force had enough evidence to prosecute, and convicted Mac Dre of conspiracy to rob a bank, while Diggs was convicted of attempting to rob a bank. According to Diggs, Dre was convicted because Dre refused to “snitch.” After the convictions, the FBI called 106 KMEL, and dedicated a song to Dre, “I Fought the Law, and the Law Won.” Dre was sentenced to five years in a federal institution.[5]

In prison, Hicks gained some notoriety by recording the lyrics to songs directly over the Fresno County Jail and Lompoc United States Penitentiary inmate telephone. His album, Young Black Brotha, was a result of such efforts, as well as guest appearances on fellow artists' songs, all while Hicks was still imprisoned. A later album, Back 'N Da Hood, was also made up of these prison-recorded songs.[3] Upon his release in 1996, Mac Dre was a changed man. According to Diggs, instead of wanting to continue his hard-core gang lifestyle, Dre realized that the lifestyle he yearned for was one that included a non-stop party.

Post prison [link]

After his release from prison in 1997, he released Mac Dre Presents the Rompalation. In late 1997 and early 1998 he recorded his second album Stupid Doo Doo Dumb. It was released April 28, 1998. Following those albums, Hicks met with Executive Producer Bernard Gourley and recorded the album Rapper Gone Bad with production help from Tone Cappone, Lev Berlak, and Warren G. This started a new beginning for Mac Dre as he began to release albums steadily, building a huge catalog of music recorded at The Grill Studios in Oakland. In 2000. Mac Dre's audience was growing, and mainstream hip-hop stations were beginning to give Hicks' music more airtime. Hicks relocated to Sacramento, California in 2001, where he began a label, Thizz Entertainment.[3]

He worked with well-known artists such as Keak da Sneak, E-40, B-Legit, Brotha Lynch Hung, Dubee,[6] Mistah F.A.B.,[7] Rydah J. Klyde,[8] Richie Rich,[9] Lil Ric[10] San Quinn, Mars, Yukmouth, PSD, Andre Nickatina, Mac Mall, Smoov-E (aka Eli Meltzer), Messy Marv, and Too Short. He also provided an uncredited hook to the track "Gotta Survive" from Young Lay's Black 'N Dangerous album that featured 2Pac.[11]

Death [link]

On November 1, 2004, Hicks was a passenger in a vehicle driving on a freeway in Kansas City, Missouri when a gunman shot at his vehicle. The driver crashed and was able to get to a phone to call 911 but Hicks was pronounced dead at the scene from a bullet wound. It was announced in December 2011 that a tipster had came forward with information regarding Mac Dre's death.[12]

Discography [link]

Main article: Mac Dre discography

Solo albums [link]

Compilation albums & remix albums [link]

Extended plays & cassettes [link]

  • 1989: Young Black Brotha
  • 1991: California Livin'
  • 1992: Back n da Hood

Best Of albums [link]

Collaboration albums [link]

References [link]

  1. ^ a b c d e f https://www.mac-dre.info/biography.php
  2. ^ https://www.sfbg.com/40/07/news_dre2.html
  3. ^ a b c https://www.mac-dre.info/career.php
  4. ^ a b United States vs. Simon Curtis, Jamal Diggs, and Andre Hicks. Fresno California
  5. ^ Hybrid Gangs and The Hyphy Movement" Crossing the Colorline in Sacramento County https://csus-dspace.calstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10211.9/1140/Hybrid%20Gangs%20and%20the%20Hyphy%20Movement-%20Crossing%20the%20Color%20Line%20in%20Sacramento%20County2.pdf?sequence=1
  6. ^ Rahman, Ali (2010-30-11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iTEUydzdk0
  7. ^ Rahman, Ali (2010-30-11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFo450kSCqM
  8. ^ Rahman, Ali (2010-30-11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGR2tpXsdhc
  9. ^ Rahman, Ali (2010-30-11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbH9bPT9U8g
  10. ^ Rahman, Ali (2010-30-11) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdl-DYQi5fA
  11. ^ Caples, Garrett (2005-11-16). "Nation of Thizzlam: Mac Dre's Thizz label undergoes a rebirth.". San Francisco Bay Guardian. https://www.sfbg.com/40/07/news_dre2.html. Retrieved 2006-10-14. 
  12. ^ Bulwa, Demian (2011-06-24). "VALLEJO / Rapper Mac Dre slain in Kansas City / This time rumors of his death are true -- he was killed in a freeway shooting". SFGate. https://articles.sfgate.com/2004-11-02/bay-area/17451799_1_vallejo-mac-dre-andre-hicks. Retrieved 2 December 2011. 

https://wn.com/Mac_Dre

Podcasts:

Mac Dre

ALBUMS

Born: 1970-07-05

Died: 2004-11-01

developed with YouTube
PLAYLIST TIME:

Mac Dre

by: Mac Dre

Uh, look, look, cut
Cut look over there, look at that beezy (I see her, I see her)
Go beezy that's the pleaser, uh she stupid huh?
Teaser the dick pleaser
What is she doing?
[Verse 1]
She shakin' it up, tryin' to get spotted
Ripped off Hennessy, mixed with Hypnotiq
Man this chick got it, she a thinger
Work that lip like an R&B singer
Now she all in my beamer, it's two o' clockish
I'm a rap star boy, feelin' 2Pacish
Or rockish, call me Dre Van Halen
Or Thizzy Marley, I stay in inhalen
I rock a party til it turn a.m
It ain't a pary til they let Dre in
I do the wave man, and captain caveman
In some grey Vans, and some Raybands
I'm Mac Dre man, I do it illy
Silly off the pilly, really oh billy
What the deally keep feeling my cup
I'm feeling myself nigga that's wusup
[Chorus 1]
Some more Henny in my cup (that's wusup)
A telly in the cut (nigga that's wusup)
Some pilly and a blunt (that's wusup)
I'm finna act a nut (yeah that's wusup)
T.V.'s, DVD's (a that's wusup)
E's, hella trees (yeah that's wusup)
Knit back cap (uh that's wusup)
Baby crack that back (c'mon that's wusup)
Uh, uh that's wusup
uh ahh that's wusup
uh ahh that's wusup
uh ahh that's wusup
[Chorus 2]
I don't got no time if you don't got no money
I don't got no time if you don't got no money
[Verse 2]
She's got popsicle toes, man she's cold
You know me when I'm in my mode
I can talk fly off a piece of dookie
I can talk Muslim up out his kufe
Act goofy, girl get stuy
Miami this hit, call Chuy
Call the Louies, call my mama
This gon' be the biggest thang since Osama
You punks don't want no drama
I put you on pause stop you like a comma
I'm piranha, in bay waters
Knit back cap, throwback Starter
B-Boy with the square look decoy
Cutthoat, used to be a D-Boy
Three toys, on dub or more
Bring the hook back I'm finna club some more
[Chorus 1]
[Verse 3]
Since the police let me out the Pen
I've been stacking hella yen
Shillings, francs, even pesos
Big bank gettin' sloppy facials
I don't chase hoes, hoes chase me
Gettin' jaw in the Benz, with the AC
Blowing, almost harder than baby
No ones harder then Dre I'm gravy
Saucy, flossy, keep thangs bossy
A lil over ten, is what the rims cost me
A lil more Gin I do the Jim Brosky
Like Filmoe Slim, a pimp, you can't cross me
No shrimp, Dre eat prawns
And do you have any Grey Poupon
I wanna rub it up, flip it up, smack it up
When I bust a nut lick it up that's wusup
[Chorus 1]
That's wusup
Nigga that's wusup
That's wusup
Yeah that's wusup
A that's wusup
Yeah that's wusup
Uh that's wusup




×