Along with artists like Green Day, Counting Crows, E-40, Grateful Dead, MC Hammer, Too $hort, and more, late rapper Mac Dre, whose legal name was Andre Hicks, was surely one of the most impactful acts from the Bay Area, California. Born in Oakland in 1970, Dre rose to prominence in the early 1990s with his debut album Young Black Brotha, followed by 10 more solo projects and a few collaborative LPs before his death in 2004.
To honor this legacy, Unanimous Media will put together a documentary about Dre to educate viewers on his contributions to hip-hop. Alongside Unanimous, and its co-founder Erick Peyton, Bay Area icon and star player for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, Stephen Curry, will help produce the film.
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“Mac Dre is a cultural icon who made a tremendous impact on the Bay Area and beyond through his music and pioneering creativity,” Peyton and Curry said in a statement obtained by Billboard. “We’re honored to work with Mac Dre’s incredible mother, Wanda, to tell her son’s life story with respect and dignity for fans, the Bay Area community, and music lovers alike.”
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As noted by Peyton and Curry, Dre’s mother Wanda Salvatto will have a hand in crafting the doc. Hoping to uplift the life and achievements of her son, Salvatto also spoke about her excitement for the currently untitled production.
“I look forward to sharing how from Andre’s dreams of rapping emerged a blueprint that not only inspired a generation but also became a guide to conquering obstacles and fulfilling their entrepreneurial dreams,” Salvatto said.
Dre’s most notable claim to fame was helping the hyphy sub-genre of rap breakthrough into the mainstream. Described as a style of music that is dance-friendly and up-tempo, hyphy was co-opted by many of the Bay Area’s favorite MCs, such as the aforementioned E-40.
“It’s an energy. It’s a culture. It’s a dance. It’s expression,” E-40 said in a 2007 interview with Artisan News Service. “It’s cars. It’s the sideshows. It’s the swinging of donuts. It’s scraper cars—the Buick LeSabres, the Park Avenues, the old-school muscle cars … It’s the struggle. It’s the way we dress. It’s our lingo. It’s a culture, man.”
The upcoming Mac Dre documentary has yet to be given a release date.
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)