In Bay Area hip-hop, few artists loom as large as Mac Dre, the late Vallejo rapper who helped inspire the hyphy movement and create the region’s signature sound.
Now, Mac Dre will soon have a street named after him. On Sept. 8, the Vallejo City Council voted unanimously to rename Taper Avenue in Vallejo’s Crestside neighborhood Mac Dre Way.
“It’s about damn time,” said Vallejo Vice Mayor Diosdado “J.R.” Matulac at the unusually lively city council meeting.
Ray Luv, a hip-hop artist and the chief of operations at Mac Dre’s estate, described the honorary street renaming as a major milestone for Vallejo hip-hop and Black culture more broadly.
“Mac Dre is one of the founders. When Mac Dre came onto the scene in the late ’80s, it was maybe less than a dozen record labels in the Bay Area that focused on rap,” Ray Luv told KQED in a phone call. “He helped to pave the way for kids from the 707, from the Bay area. And he was able to make his mark internationally, as far away as Amsterdam. They celebrate Mac Dre Day all over the world.”
Mac Dre, born Andre Hicks in 1970, was a major influence on prominent Bay Area rappers during the ’90s and 2000s, including Mistah F.A.B. and Mac Mall. He also inspired the Bay Area’s next generation of hitmakers, including P-Lo and Karri. Earlier this year, the two produced Drake’s “2 Hard 4 the Radio,” which heavily samples Mac Dre’s 1989 song “2 Hard 4 the Fuckin’ Radio,” which launched his career as a teenager.
Two decades after his untimely death in a 2004 Kansas City shooting, Mac Dre’s hits, including “Feelin’ Myself” and “Thizzelle Dance,” remain in heavy rotation at Bay Area nightclubs and sports stadiums. For many fans, who’ve made countless tributes through artwork, tattoos and murals, Mac Dre represents freedom, self-expression and being unafraid to “dance a little different,” as he famously rapped on “Get Stupid.”
“Mac Dre is a person that — people would come to his concerts, watch his videos and listen to his music, and they felt welcome,” Ray Luv said. “They felt invited. They did not feel ‘other’ when they were around him.”
A Mac Dre mural on Foothill Boulevard in Oakland by artist Chez. (Laurence Madrigal/We Were Hyphy)
According to a petition for the commemorative street renaming filed by Miami the Most, an artist signed to Mac Dre’s Thizz Entertainment record label, the intersection of Taper Avenue and Amelia Street was the location of Mac Dre’s childhood home, and he made his earliest music there.
The renaming makes Mac Dre the latest in a line of Bay Area hip-hop icons who’ve had streets renamed in their honor, including E-40, Too $hort and Tupac.
The Tuesday night Vallejo City Council meeting drew dozens of supporters who spoke in favor of the renaming during the 42 minutes of public comment. Those included Tom Pangelinan, a local coach; Solano County Supervisor Cassandra James, whose district includes North Vallejo; and artists, rappers and managers who either worked with or were inspired by Mac Dre.
“People ask me, ‘What is it that’s so great about Vallejo?’ This! It’s that intangible, it’s that community, it’s everybody showing up,” Mayor Andrea Sorce remarked, before taking a selfie with the large crowd.
Mac Mall was among the community supporters. “Andre Hicks was a selfless person,” he said. “He helped start my career, and helped countless young people get their start in the music business, and be able to change their lives and provide for their family and friends.”
A date for the street renaming ceremony has not yet been set.
Gabe Meline contributed reporting.