Andre Hicks, aka Mac Dre, soared through his brief life with a focused playfulness ever hinting at the violence in the background. Considered one of the pioneers of the region's hyphy movement, Mac Dre constantly hyped the Bay Area. The Vallejo, California, native built a sprawling empire called Thizz Nation, which released comedy videos and bobblehead dolls in addition to a seemingly bottomless pit of records by Dre himself and his many signees. Although every indication is that he had abandoned a crime-ridden past that included recording his first record from a jailhouse pho...