Mac Dre is an American rapper who gained his fame through many hit songs he released from 1984 to 2004. His life needed sadly, but his legacy manages to live on though his amazing songs.
In today’s text we are going to talk about his life, his career and his net worth, in order to find out what makes him so special. If he is one of your favorite rappers, this is a perfect opportunity to learn more.
Early Years
Andre Hicks was born in Oakland, California July 5, 1970 – died in Kansas on November 1, 2004. People mostly know him as Mac Dre or by many other stage names he gave himself during his career like Pill Clinton Ronald Dregan and many others. He was an American rapper from the San Francisco Bay Area in California who debuted before the public in mid-1990.
Andre grew up in Oakland in rough times when there was a lot of segregation and racism. He moved with his family to Vallejo when he was really young and grew up in a Country Club Crest which is also known as The Crest.
Andre went to the Hogan High School where he was an okay student. He often talked about his childhood and based on his stories, he didn’t really have great childhood. We can assume that he grew up in difficult times and was faced with many obstacles on his road to success.
Since there aren’t many information about his childhood, we are going to talk more about his amazing career and the years following his death.
Career Path
One of the most beloved rappers of the Bay Area of San Francisco, California, where they come from, Tupac, Too $ hort, E-40 among others. His amazing music career started in 1984.
He started by releasing mixtapes until he was noticed by the bigger players in the game. He created his stage name in the same year and started performing under this name until the end of his career.
His first EP’s came out in 1988 and that is when his career kicked off. He was the creator of a type of dance known as “Thizzle Dance”. After having recorded three albums between 1989 and 1991, Mac Dre was accused of being part of the (planned) robbery of a bank (in fact he was innocent but never cooperated with the police).
In 1992, he was sentenced to 5 years in prison for not informing his friends about the said crime. He kept writing his songs in jail and recorded an album (Back in da ‘hood) by phone from jail.
While he was still in jail he was still an owner of the Romp Production Company, and he started recording his album via his phone. This only shows how serious he was about his music and how much he wanted to succeed.
In 1997 he was finally released from prison and was able to continue his career path. The five years he was in prison only made him more focused on his career and desire to succeed. The album Mac Dre Presents: The Rompalation came out in 1996 and the second album came right after that one in 1997.
The name of his second album was Stupid Doo Doo Dumb. Many producers started noticing Andre and he became a household name in the hip hop scene. Producer who came up to him was Bernard Gourley who helped him produce the album called Rapper Gone Bad. People who also joined in on this project were Warren G, Tone Capone and Lev Berlak.
After leaving prison, he began to work hard on his music and was the founder of the production company Thizz ent (thizz is another name for MDMA). He was one of the leaders of the HYPHY movement who knew how to excite the people of his region and it seemed that he was destined for fame and wealth. Just when people from outside his region began to recognize his great talent nationally and globally they killed him.
In 1998, Andre decided it was time to get further away from Vallejo and choose Sacramento as his new home. There he founded the Thizz Entertainment. His mother helped him manage the company and the company was renamed into Thizz Entnertainment LLC.
His last two albums came out in 2004, just few months before his death. The last two albums he released were The Genie of the Lamp and The Game is Thick, Vol. 2. The last two albums that came out, were a total success. His songs are still being listened to and the younger generations see him as an inspiration even though he is no longer there.
In 2005, albums Judge Dre Mathis, Dre Day: July 5th 1970 and Pill Clinton came out posthumously. The albums were an homage to him and also a reminder to younger generations to avoid the life of crime and to focus their lives to better things. He was mentioned as a collaborator on albums A Tale of Two Andres and Da U.S. Open, both albums came after his death.
Andre’s net worth is estimated at around 1.5$ million. Surely this number would have been much higher if he only had time to achieve everything he imagined. Most of this net worth came from his music, his performances and his record label.
Sadly, we won’t be hearing new music from this talented rapper, but we can still enjoy his songs and smash hits from the nineties.
Personal life
Like we already mentioned above, Andre grew up in Vallejo and there he spent most of his childhood. He often spoke about difficult times he had growing up and how it was difficult to come on top in those times. Being born in the seventies, we can only imagine how hard it was.
Andre was never in love with school, so he knew his road would either lead him to music or to crime.
Luckily he choose music, but the difficult lifestyle didn’t leave him that easily.
In 1992 he was sentenced to five years in prison for conspiracy to commit robbery.
The time he spent in prison changed him forever and affected his life later on. When it comes to his personal life after he left prison, he never married and he doesn’t have any kids. Sadly he didn’t have time to achieve everything he wanted.
On November 1, in Kansas, a car gunned down the vehicle where Mac Dre and other rappers from the Thizz producing company were traveling, resulting in the death of Mac Dre.
His death was denounced by millions of fans, and currently has his place next to Tupac Amaru Shakur, The Notorious BIG, Eazy-E, Big L, Big Pun, and other hip-hop martyrs in the hearts of fans of this music.
It was never discovered who was the shooter and who committed this heinous crime. We can only guess who had something against this talented rapper. His legacy continues to live even if he is not there. We can enjoy his music and his work, since he was very hard working.
He is a true example how prison can’t limit someone who has a will to live and achieve something in life. The fact he recorded songs while in prison only tells us that he had an amazing will to live and to show his true talent.
There aren’t many more information about this talented rapper, but the ones we do have only speak about his amazing talent and will to live.
His hits and popular songs are still smash hits and even the younger generations are listening to them. Many famous rappers list him as their inspiration.
Quick summary
Full name: Andre Hicks
Date of birth: July 5, 1970
Birthplace: Bay Area of San Francisco, California
Age: 34
Profession: Singer, Rapper, Producer
Height: 1.80 m
Weight: 85
Net Worth: $1.5 million