July 5th, 1970 - November 1st, 2004 - RIP Mac Dre - 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

[Mac Casper]

A San Francisco Bay area underground rap star, who police say was also a member of a gang of robbers, was killed in Kansas City, Mo., when a gunman shot into a van in which he was riding.
A San Francisco Bay area underground rap star, who police say was also a member of a gang of robbers, was killed in Kansas City, Mo., when a gunman shot into a van in which he was riding.

Andre Hicks, 34, known as Mac Dre, was killed about 3:30 a.m. Monday when another vehicle pulled up beside the driver's side of the van he was in and began shooting, police said.

The van swerved across the highway median, across the southbound lanes and down a steep embankment. Hicks was thrown from the van, but police said he died from the shooting. The driver crawled from the wreckage and walked for help.

Hicks had performed at a concert in Kansas City, Kan., on Friday night and stayed in the area during the weekend.

Police were trying to determine a motive, Capt. Vince Cannon said. Witnesses did not hear Hicks arguing with anyone and officers do not believe the shooting stemmed from road rage, Cannon said.

Hicks has recorded more than a dozen albums since 1989. In the early 1990s, police began investigating Hicks and several associates thought to be members of the Vallejo, Calif.'s Romper Room Gang, which was suspected in a string of bank and business robberies.

Hicks was eventually charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit bank robbery after he and several others were arrested while preparing to rob a bank. "We were on his tail for a long time," Vallejo police Lt. Rick Nichelman said.

Hicks recorded raps mocking law enforcement, often naming specific officers, including Nichelman, who was a lead investigator on the case.

Nichelman said some of the lyrics reportedly were recorded over the phone while Hicks was in jail awaiting sentencing. He was released from prison in 1996. For those that don't know, he had a career spanning 15 years. He's responsible for an expansive catalog, very consistent and he brought nothing but different styles and original character throughout his years. Perhaps the most quotable rapper ever.

Perhaps the greatest song of all-time


how many times he reinvented himself over the years, from an independent level. Pure genius, always original

 

[Xbox One X]

Tip Mac Dre da gawd

 

[kj614]

That Lord knows beat flip on not my job

 

[Mac Casper]

That Lord knows beat flip on not my job

Good ear, they both sampled "All I Ask" by Blackbyrds - beautiful song actually, reminds me of Fox and the Hound -

 

[Travellin' Man]

r.i.p. mac dre

my favorite mac dre song right here

 

[Mac Casper]

"Mac Dre is the Name" (pre-prison) -


"Mac Dre is the Name" (post-prison) -

Tell me that's not the smoothest 90s sound ever