Andre Hicks' debut album was released in 1993 and rather than being a real studio album, it's a sort of compilation. Hicks was born in Oakland, before moving to Vallejo, where he gained local fame from a young age and chose the moniker Mac Dre in his teens.
At the time of this record's release, he comes from four pretty solid EPs published in the last four years: in the early nineties, the city of Vallejo experienced an abnormal increase in robberies, and law enforcement concentrated on the district where Mac Dre lived, soon ending up studying his lyrics in order to find evidence to use in the trials. In the spring of 1992, upon returning from Fresno, Hicks' car is stopped by the FBI and the man is arrested and sentenced to five years in federal prison, after refusing to negotiate on a conspiracy charge due to the FBI thought that his friends were about to carry out a bank robbery while Hicks was in a motel.
He has his own label Romp Crest Records, but decides to release the project under Khayree's Strictly Business Records which produces the entire project. To complete the record, are extracted songs from "Young Black Brotha EP" (1989; "2 Hard 4 the F-ckin' Radio", title track), "California Livin'" EP (1991; "California Livin'", "Gift 2 Gab", "A Piece from Khayree"), "Back n da Hood" EP (1992; "My Chevy", longer version ft. Mac Mall), and from "What's Really Going On?" EP (1992; "All Damn Day", "On My Toes", "Young Playah", "Much Love 4 the Mac", a short piece from "U Still Punk Police"). The remaining tracks are recorded with a phone from Fresno County Jail. The album is divided into two sections, Romp Side, which contains the first ten tracks, and Crest Side, which contains the last eleven. Collaborate on the album, from Unda Dogg, Ray Luv, Mac Mall and The Mac.
The disc boasts 21 cuts and 3 short interludes for a total of over 74 minutes of listening: there's a solid funky production of Khayree, not his finest in career, but it's an overall acceptable, coherent and enjoyable sound, with good samples and scattered g-funk synths, coupled with fresh rapping from Mac Dre, who delivers his thug-gangsta and braggadocio lyrics with an excellent and competent flow, smooth and authoritative, at times dope. On the downside, the record suffers from questionable mixing and is quite long, however, it's never boring, even if you've heard most of the songs in previous EPs. Excellent tape from the Bay Area, introduces in the rap game Da Unda Dogg, Mac Mall and The Mac, while Ray Luv had made his debut in the first studio album of Mac Mall. The record achieves some commercial success, entering the hip-hop album chart and becoming the most successful work in the rapper's career. Recommended to fans of Bay Area and West Coast.
Highlights: "California Livin'", "They Don't Understand", "Young Black Brotha", "My Chevy".
Rating: 7.5/10.
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