Mac Dre

Andre Hicks, known professionally as Mac Dre, moved through his abbreviated lifetime with a deliberate sense of play that never fully masked the threat of violence lurking nearby. Widely viewed as an originator of the local hyphy movement, he tirelessly championed the Bay Area at every opportunity. A native of Vallejo, California, he constructed the far-reaching Thizz Nation operation, which issued comedic videos and bobblehead dolls alongside a seemingly inexhaustible catalog of releases from Dre and the roster of artists he signed. Even though signs pointed to his having left a criminal history behind—one that encompassed capturing his debut recording over a jailhouse phone—the self-described “too hard for radio” figure was fatally shot in what appeared to be a targeted attack on a highway outside Kansas City in 2004.