Andre Louis Hicks, better known by his stage nameMac Dre, was an American rapper, hip hop, and record producer based in Vallejo, California. He was instrumental in the emergence of hyphy, a cultural movement in the Bay Areahip hop scene that emerged in the early 2000s. Hicks is considered one of the movement's key pioneers that fueled its popularity into mainstream, releasing songs with fast-paced rhymes and basslines that inspired a new style of dance. As the founder of the independent record labelThizz Entertainment, Hicks recorded dozens of albums and gave aspiring rappers an outlet to release albums locally. In 2004, Hicks was killed by an unknown assailant after a performance in Kansas City, Missouri, a case that remains unsolved.
Early life and career
Andre Louis Hicks was born in Oakland, California on July 5, 1970 and then moved to the Vallejo area. He would often frequent the Country Club Crest neighborhood, known locally as The Crest. In 1989, the outgoing Hicks made waves with a cassette tape featuring the single, "Too Hard for the F---in' Radio" while still a student at Vallejo's Hogan High School. NPR noted his 2013 sound as being "fast and confident" further writing that "he built upon the bouncy bass that had its roots in the funk era." When asked about his childhood, Hicks stated that "Situations came out for the better most of them, I went through the little trials and the shit that I went through." Hicks first adopted the stage name MC Dre in 1984, but altered it to Mac Dre the following year because he considered the name sounded "too East Coast-ish". Hicks recorded his first three EPs as Mac Dre between 1988 and 1992.
Conviction
In the early 1990s, the city of Vallejo experienced a surge in bank robberies. Vallejo police began to focus on the Crest Neighborhood as a source of the crime. Hicks was vocal about the actions he saw being taken by the police and incorporated their aggressive surveillance of residents into his music. As gangster rap music consistently grew in popularity, law enforcement officials began to examine the lyrics of local rappers to utilize as evidence in criminal matters. On March 26, 1992, at age 21, Hicks was invited by friends to a road trip in Fresno. Hicks had performed in the city two weeks prior and decided to go on the trip so that he could re-visit a woman he knew there. While driving back to Vallejo the car was surrounded by the FBI, Fresno, and Vallejo police. The police stated that while Hicks was at a motel, his friends were allegedly casing a bank but had changed their mind when they saw a local Fresno TV News van in the bank's parking lot. When questioned by the police, Hicks stated that he did not leave the hotel therefore did not know anything. The police subsequently charged him with conspiracy to commit robbery, although no bank robbery was conducted and Hicks was neither with his friends nor near the location of the purported bank. He was sentenced to five years in federal prison after he refused a plea deal for the conspiracy charge. The trial was later listed among Complex Magazine's 30 Biggest Criminal Trials in Rap History. At the time of his conviction, Hicks owned the record label Romp Productions. Hicks was released a year early from prison for good behavior on August 2, 1996, after serving four years. It was during his time in prison, that Hicks developed a "better appreciation for freedom, life, fun."
Post Prison Career
After his release from Lompoc Prison, Hicks wanted to start doing music that was easy to dance to. He and long time friend and fellow rapper, Troy Reddick a/k/a Da'unda'Dogg decided to try to do something different. The duo recorded several songs to pitch for the first time, to major record labels. One song was sent to various West-Coast-based representatives of the well-known Oakland rapper Too Short for an upcoming compilation,, but was not selected and it is unknown if the song ever made it to Too Short. In 2019, Grammy winning Atlanta rapper and multi-platinum producer, Lil Jon, with the blessing of Hicks's mother, would incorporate the same vocals in the single "Ain't No Tellin" and release thru Geffen Records. Ironically, Lil Jon's 1998 debut to the Bay Area was through a song on the same Too Short compilation. Reddick, in a statement to Complex Magazine stated "Of all the vocals Jon got, he picked some from the record Dre wrote to be released by a major label, and 23 years later Lil Jon has completed his goal!" Hicks continued to release multiple popular albums independently until his untimely death in 2004. In 1998, Hicks relocated to Sacramento to distance himself from the eyes of Vallejo law enforcement and founded the a new label, Thizz Entertainment label, now managed by Hick's mother. In 2000, Hicks's change in sound became influential in the Hyphy Movement.
Death
After Hicks and other Thizz Entertainment members had performed a show in Kansas City, Missouri on October 31, 2004, an unidentified gunman shot at the group's van as it traveled on U.S. Route 71 in the early morning hours of November 1. The van's driver crashed and called 9-1-1, but Hicks was pronounced dead at the scene from a bullet wound to the neck. He was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland.
