Mac Dre career

Mac Dre's music gained popularity in the early to mid 1990s throughout the Bay Area, eventually receiving national recognition through his independent record labels Romp and Thizz Entertainment. During his music career, he has released many hit singles, such as "Too Hard for the Radio", and most recently "Feeling Myself". He was the creator of the "Thizzle Dance", a popular dance which holds no specific standard.

Hardship and controversy have been staples of Mac Dre's career. After recording his first three albums between 1989 and 1991, Andre Hicks was charged with conspiracy to commit bank robbery. Hicks' record label, Romp Productions, and his many references to "Romper Room" in his songs, coincided with a Vallejo robbery gang of the time calling themselves the "Romper Room Gang" and responsible for the robberies of many area banks and pizza parlours. Hicks was alleged to be a member of the gang. The rapper was sentenced to five years in prison in 1992.

In prison, Hicks gained some notoriety by recording the lyrics to songs directly over the Fresno County jail inmate telephone. His album, ''Young Black Brotha'', was a result of such efforts, as well as guest appearances on fellow artists' songs, all while Hicks was still imprisoned. A later album, ''Back 'N Da Hood'', was also made up of these prison-recorded songs.

After his release from prison in 1997, Mac Dre began releasing albums steadily, building pace in the early 21st century. Mac Dre's audience was growing, and mainstream hip-hop stations were beginning to give Hicks' music more airtime. Hicks relocated to Sacramento, California in 2001, where he began a label, Thizz Entertainment.

Mac Dre Discography

• 1989) Young Black Brotha EP
• 1991) California Livin'
• 1992) What's Really Going On?
• 1992) Back N Da Hood
• 1993) Young Black Brotha: The Album
• 1998) Stupid Doo Doo Dumb
• 1998) Don't Hate the Player Hate the Game
• 1999) Rapper Gone Bad
• 2000) Heart of a Gangsta, Mind of a Hustla, Tongue of a Pimp
• 2001) Turf Buccaneers
• 2001) Mac Dre's the Name
• 2001) It's Not What You Say... It's How You Say It
• 2002) Mac Dammit Man & Friends: City Slickers
• 2002) Thizzelle Washington
• 2002) Remember Me
• 2003) Al Boo Boo
• 2004) Ronald Dregan: Dreganomics
• 2004) The Genie of the Lamp
• 2004) The Game Is Thick, Vol. 2
• 2005) Da U.S. Open
• 2005) Money Iz Motive
• 2005) 15 Years Deep
• 2005) 23109 Exhibition of Speed
• 2006) Uncut
• 2006) 16 Wit Dre
• 2006) Alaska 2 tha Bay
• 2006) 16 Wit Dre, Vol. 2
• 2006) Tales of II Andre's
• 2007) Everybody Ain't Able
• 2007) Starters in the Game
• 2007) Pill Clinton
• 2008) Dre Area