Dette intervjuet ble gjort av Xplosiv Magazine.
his stardom once again. With his passing, he is now a Legend."
So what's the next theme? Dre says with a big smile, “they're just ideas that pop into my head. I buy a lot of cars; I do a lot of driving. So when I'm driving, things just pop into my head. And as fast as the game is going right now, you got to jump on your ideas immediately, and that's what I do. Whether it's recording a song, an album cover, a video, a new concept I'm coming with at a concert, show tape or something. I just don't hesitate. BAM!! I'm using that! The next theme, I'm glad you asked me because me and my cuddy Mac Mall hooked up, the wonder Twin Powers activate, we done hooked back up. We are doing an album, the name of it is ‘The U.S. Open.’ I'm Andre Macassi & he's Mall Macenroe. We playing tennis with the mic.”
So everything is smooth with Mac Mall now? “Yeah, things been smooth, it's just the game is moving so fast, it was so competitive. Everyone really got to do what he can for himself to survive or to keep a name. So he was doing his thing and I was doing mine. So we could stay strong, independently. So our leg for the bigger thing can be stronger. Mall is one leg, I'm another leg, Dubb 20 is an arm, Rydah J. Klyde is the other arm. Everything got to be strong, so it takes independent exercise, and that's what we was doing,” said Dre.
So how big is the catalog now? “Man it's hard for me to keep up. My objective is not knocking out a gang of albums, now that I look back, I be like WEE!-it's a lot of records. But my objective is to keep the fans stimulated. Keep them on me. Once they get bored, they get on someone else. And you’re not hot to them,” said Mac Dre. You are literally a character for the Bay Area, tell us why. While rolling up the 3rd Backwood full of purple, Dre said, “I'm really trying to represent for this soil. For us on a world wide level. So people in Japan know we got dope rappers in the Bay that ride around in fancy cars and doing the big thang like the other big guys. I'm trying to be one of the All Stars on the team.” You just hit them hard dropping 2 albums over the summer ‘Ronald Dregan’ & ‘The Genie of the Lamp.’ Tell us about the new Mac Dre album. “‘The Game Is... Thick Part 2.’ I did a tribute to the man that started me off professionally rapping, who hooked me up Michael Robinson, The Mac. His first album was ‘The Game Is Thick.’ So I reconstructed the album cover from that same vibe, to let people know where it all started,” said Dre. When was this? “I wanted to be a rapper as soon as I heard The Sugar Hill Gang. It was like football, as soon as I saw Tony Dorsett, I wanted to be a football player. I started taking it serious in ‘87-‘88, when I got locked down for my first lengthy period of time. This was when I went to the Boys Ranch and there wasn't nothing else to do but write raps. Then I got out, then my boys wanted me to proceed with a professional career, The Mac had just put out his album and they hooked me up with Khayree. And since then, it's been on,” says Dre. You have had a lot of success, what is your goal out here in the Bay Area? “You see how the South got their thing going on, and they got an established road to where people with real talent, they got an upper escalon circle of rappers to step to that can pull them up there. And help them do stuff. I'm trying to create an organization like that out here so we could have a few hot record labels, that's really bangin.' And then the Bay Area is handling it like the South, or New York. That's my ultimate goal, is to get fired up. Get it fired up right here where I'm from,” replied Mac Dre.
I see you’re on Turf talk’s album, the first time you’re on a Sick Wid It album, how'd that happen? “I got a call from Charlie Hu$tle (E-40) one day. Charlie Hu$tle asked me to get on a song with him. That's his meanest Pit in his backyard right now. He wanted me to get in with his meanest Pit, so I went and got down, so we can make this thing stronger,” says Dre. Anymore plans to work with E-40 and them? “Yeah, we've been on the phone, I'm waiting for Charlie Hu$tle to give me that call to drive up to the studio. When it's time for me to drive up to the studio, then me and him gonna get down. Other than that, all of the yip yap (other sh#t) is not my thang,” said Mac Dre.
I believe you’re one step away from being signed to a major, you got the look, the sound, the history, the sales, what's up? “That step is so close, but yet it's a step that you really got to think hard on making because you lose a lot when you make that step. I got a lot of friends that have made that step and you lose a lot of things such as creative control. When your album is coming out. You might think that you got the hottest album right now and your sh#t is shelved for a year or two or three. And opposed to what I'm getting now, I've been a CEO since 1996, so I've been getting CEO money. So for me to take a step to an artist deal or something like that would mean me going from 100% to 15, 20, 30% or somewhere like that. I'm hot right now. My sh#t needs to be on the streets, guaranteed. I'm gonna make enough money to start another business or something. City Hall Records in San Rafael is my den,” said Dre.
What's going on in Vallejo? “Me, PSD, Dubee, and Mac Mall are gonna do our part professionally to show the rest of the world that the Bay got it. This is the town where it originates, we make up words every 5-10 seconds,” replied Dre. Half of your music is the beat, who do you get to do your music? “Production is everything to us. So we're real selective on who we choose. Tone Capone is one. Then Swump Cat, my Samoan potna from Concord, he do alot of the beats, he did ‘That's What's Up,’ he did alot of my snaps. Another main source is One Drop Scott, along with Epik from Sacramento, Traxx from Richmond, and Rob Lo from Pittsburg, oh yeah and Mac Dre (Doctor Dre),” said Dre.
Mac Dre to me is the most acted like rapper in Northern California. Come out to the Bay and you got 15 year old cats acting like Dre, Ghost riding their whips, Thizzing, and going Stupid. He has kept his fan base for over 15 years, & gained the new young audience to boot. He is truly an entertainer. Thizz Entertainment travels as far as Omaha, Nebraska, Denver, Colorado, even to Honolulu, Hawaii just letting people know who don't know about Mac Dre and his comic-style gangster rap. I have talked to numerous people who have seen Dre perform on Indian Reservations, small towns, and cities no one ever heard of. Stay tuned for “Treal T.V. 2,” and go pick up one of Mac Dre's albums, so you too can feel him.
ARTIST FEEDBACK TO DRE'S DEATH
“Dre was a cool dude. He was hella funny. He always was Rompin.’ He was a funny character, even when he rapped. He always had good karma around him. He’d keep a smile on your face.” -BLACK PEPPER (DA LOOIE CREW)
“Mac Dre was a straight character, his whole persona was off the hook. He had the strength to bring the whole Bay back. It was just starting for him. To sum him up, he was a trendsetter, a Bay Area entrepreneur, gangsta pimpin, game spitter, a true leader. Mr. Thizzelle Washington, there’s nobody else like him, straight up Too Hard For The Muthafu@#in Radio, Oh Boy!! Rest In Peace my n**ga.” -YUKMOUTH
“Mac Dre, he was a very cool guy. I had the chance to grow up with him, in the early days of our careers. Since we was both from Vallejo, just two different sides of the town. It was like a competition. When you have competition, it brings success. He was doing his thing. We did our thing together. We bridged the gap. We had a chance to do a couple of songs together. We also had the chance to do a couple of shows on the road together. We had a chance to grow together, and merge, and everything was all good. He was on the up rise again, it was good to see that.” -B-LEGIT
“Mac Dre, that was the n**ga. He was a trendsetter for the Bay believe that. Dre was like a trendsetter of style and dance and the way n**gas was giggin.’ That n**ga had dances that America will never learn. He didn’t have dances, he had gigs. His style of rappin’ was just straight Bay Area game. That’s what I soak myself up with. Really I’m a product of Mac Dre. Without Mac Dre, there’s no Baby Bash. Plus he was a cool ass cat besides the image he had, he just wanted to make people laugh. He was my friend as well as a rap comrade of mine.” -BABY BASH
“Mac Dre was the muthaf**kin’ Crest. He represented where he was from to the fullest, and I respect that n**ga for that. Plus that was my n**ga, me and that n**ga go back to like ’90. I love that n**ga. Whoever pulled that trigger, I hope they realize what they did to the game. We just lost a boss. We still out here ridin,’ and I’mma ride for Dre. Every time I do a new song, a concert, or I do a new album, or represent the Bay, believe me Mac Dre is in my muthaf**kin’ mind.” -SPICE 1
“Mac Dre's was like a Big Brother 2 me. We built a real good friend- ship. He would call me and be like ‘Sky Beezy, n**ga get ready I'm comin to Frisco and I'm Kidnappin you for the weekend and bringing u back to Sacramento, n**ga you about to put me on with the Pimp Game!’ We shared game with each other, he laced me on the independent rap game sh*t. I gave all the pimp game. I love that dude, he's like family to me. I learned a lot from him, and I'm going to make sure his legacy live on. He meant a lot to me. I grew up on that dude. He is the king of the bay!” -$KY BALLA
“He was a Vallejo native from the Country Club Crest, he represented his soil very well. He was a real talented, creative young man. He had a cult following. He was a real one. The man went to jail, got out. He didn’t roll over on nobody, he stuck to the script, he recaptured himself. He kicked his feet like they was on fire. I hate to see that he’s gone. He was just starting to reinvent what he was doing from the beginning, he was getting more and more known. I take my hat off to everything he was doing. He represented Vallejo right along with E-40 & The Click, he represented our city very well. It makes people proud to be from Vallejo, and from the Bay Area when you see folks like that go out there and represent it!” -E-40
“Rest in bayzeee to the boss tykoonin Mac Dre from Rick Leezee. SBC DJ's & 106 KMEL. U will be missed but your music will live on in the mix.” -DJ RICK LEE (106 KMEL / SBC DJ’s)
“From the moment I heard the line ‘Listen Up, I'm About To Get Dope,’ I knew that Bay Area rap would be forever changed. Mac Dre was one of the major influences in my rap career as well as a good friend. East Coast cats might have grown up on Run DMC & LL Cool J, but if you were from Vallejo, you grew up on Mac Dre. The dude was a legend.” -JAY TEE (N2DEEP / LATINO VELVET)
“He was one of the first people to put Vallejo on the map. He was a pioneer for us. It’s devastating, because that could have been any one of us in that position as far as the rap game. We all hit the road, do performances, and deal with different people. It’s real deep. I send my condolences to his family.” -CELLY CEL
“I always made albums to show Dre, look what you taught us. He was a big mentor, and a real God to Country Club Crest Rap. He was our backbone, top of the line. We all got game from Dre. We all might sound different, me, PSD, Dubee, Coolio, but we all got spits from Dre. I still feel that he’s here.” -SLEEPDANK
“You can’t go through your day without listening to Dre. That was a good dude. Every little venture we was on, it was real fun. It was a blessing to work with Dre, Furly as he was called. Dre left a legacy, he put dudes in the door. We gone take it & run with it.” -P-REEK
“He was one of the only one’s to ever put me on, Mac Dre ‘Al Boo Boo.’ I love Dre for that. He really put my name out there, big time. Dre took me to a different level. The way he spoke on me on the song, was ridiculous. People called me out of state & said ‘did you hear what Dre said about you on the song?’ Rest In Peace Mac Dre.” -YOUNG DRU
“MD was a pioneer to the bay music scene but also a Pioneer to myself personally. It was Too Hard For The Radio back in 90 that made me fall in love with Bay music, and got me playin it when I DJd. Legend is a word tossed around lightly, but MD is the truest meaning of the word.” -DJ SCOTTY FOX (106 KMEL)
“Everything he rapped about, he did. Non-Fiction. That’s what he meant to me. He was a visionary. He mapped out everything he did, and executed it. Everything he did, meant something, and was part of his plan. He had a plan for everything. Not many knew this, but he was gonna drop 8 albums by this Summer. He wasn’t just rappin to rap, he had a vision, and he was almost there.” -I-ROCC
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