These people be disrespectful even in death. When I say these people, I mean the San Francisco Chronicle and Billboard who labeled Mac Dre “underground.” Billboard…ok, they get a pass. I understand how they measure things. But the San Francisco Chronicle shoulda known better. This is what I’m talking about:
Vallejo rapper Andre “Mac Dre” Hicks wasn’t on MTV, on magazine covers or in movies. But his clever, hardcore rhymes had an underground following, and when he was killed on a Kansas City freeway last November, hip-hop radio stations mourned him at length. Mac Dre was big enough for that.
I hope you caught the contradictions in that quote above. It’s that mentality — that what matters, what’s important, and what is mainstream is what is promoted by white media.
In the Bay, Mac Dre was larger than life. Alongside E-40, he put Vallejo on the map, no small feat considering the city is in the shadow of Oakland. Those two deserve credit for uniting that whole area into a self-contained industry similar to the way that Baltimore or Newark’s Club scene is or DC’s Go-Go.
