One More Lost

Mac Dre: Demo
From Demo [Independent, 199?]

Mac Dre: Freaky Shit
From Stupid Doo Doo Dumb [Romp Records, 1998]

Mac Dre: I'm In Motion
From Young Black Brotha [Strictly Business, 2001]

Mac Dre: Thizzle Dance (Music Video)
From Thizzle Washington [Thizz Ent, 2002]

Last week's Keak Da Sneak/DJ Shadow post didn't sit well with some of our readers so I'm hoping to reach out with one of the Bay's more accessible talents. Outside of maybe Too Short and E40, Mac Dre is one of the Bay Area's most prolific artists who's life came to an unfortunate end when he was murdered during a visit to Kansas City in 2004. Like many artists that are handed similar fates, Mac Dre's stock has gone way up since his death as appreciation of his music new and old continues to grow. I frequently see kids wearing shirts honoring his career and hear bars and passing cars blaring his music. How far reaching his music is outside of the Bay Area, I don't know, but I'd be interested to see how many of you out there have at least heard of him.

A Vallejo native, Mac Dre's industrious career spanned 12 years and 25 something albums, one of which was recorded from a Fresno jail cell on a robbery charge. What amazes me the most though is his range as a rapper. From the precise pacing of predecessor Too Short, to Southern influenced double time flows, to hard gritty Bay G shit, to funk infused gangsta bounce, Dre's catalog showed versatility that few rappers, Bay Area or otherwise, have managed to perfect.

I tried to capture a variety of tracks that highlighted the aforementioned styles, but I constantly felt I was doing a disservice by picking one song over another. The dude's catalog is long and deep, so hopefully this will get some of you to do a a little exploration on your own. In fact we hope every post here at earfuzz is doing that. Anyways, listen, respect.

R.I.P.