Police in Cass County had received multiple tips that a small-time criminal named Elijah Taylor had been seen driving the car in the months leading up to the murder. According to KCPD, witnesses said they heard gunshots before seeing a silver Dodge charger leaving the scene. Its not a mystery if you look at the case file.. Will we ever know why he was actually killed, and by who? Cowboy had been shot about 13 times by the same gun and laid a few feet from the car. Hicks, who grew up in Vallejo's hardscrabble Country Club Crest neighborhood, first gained radio airplay as a teenager with a song titled, ironically, "2 Hard 4 the (expletive) Radio." When they finally left, Mac Dre got in the back of the van and instructed Piersey to drive them to his hotel. Davila told Babcock that he remembered seeing a black Infiniti pass his car, before witnessing Antwine hanging an automatic rifle out of the passenger side window, shooting recklessly into the drivers side of his white van. Yet another informant, Nicolas Bell, also incarcerated at CCA Leavenworth, told detectives a similar story on March 13, 2006. George died from head injuries a few days later.. Airfare, hotels and food while Mac Dre and crew were in town also landed on Whitmill, who sent a contract and the first payment early in October. Mac Dre Is A Member Of . [8][bettersourceneeded] Hicks recorded his first three EPs as Mac Dre between 1988 and 1992. First Name Mac #5. Crestside 12. He knew he was onto something so he stopped doing anything dirty. Although he denies it, two jailhouse snitches claim he asked them to vouch for a version of events that doesnt include his phone calls with Whitmill. Detective Babcock also spoke with several jailhouse informants that Davila had allegedly been communicating with while awaiting trial at the Leavenworth Detention Center. He was a member of the infamous 51st Street Crips, even allegedly earning a leadership position after a turf battle with a gang member and convicted killer Rashawn Long, a former 51st Street boss. They were living in and out of hotels, offering Laurens services as Alana on Craigslist. When they learned that Tone had been staying at the MGM and reviewed the tapes, they saw Minister, Tone, and Cowboy leaving the hotel approximately 80 minutes before the bodies were found. Thats what I would have done. Seventeen people have been killed so far this year compared with 16 at this time last year, Deputy Police Chief Drennon Lindsey said. According to the TV show American Gangster, however, there was an altercation between associates of Dres, and local rapper and thug Fat Tones, though this has not been supported by witnesses. Laursens murder remains unsolved. In the world of hip-hop, police say, bad blood often means good business. In March 2014, local news reported that Antwine had been found dead in an upside down SUV riddled with bullets. Davila and Whitmill had never met each other, with the latter telling Detective Babcock (in the police report) that Mac Dres transportation was provided by some guys in Kansas.. The news station contacted Kansas City police and the car was located by 6 p.m., about 15 hours after the shooting took place, and it, too, was totaled. They were greeted at the airport by Davila, who picked the group up in his Escalade. Laursen, meanwhile, ended up in the Bay Area, where she lived out of hotels at times and offered her services -- as "Alana" -- over the Craigslist Web site, police say. Their motives for justice and truth are almost never pure and their voluntary statements should be taken with a grain of salt. [1] He was an instrumental figure in the emergence of hyphy, a cultural movement in the Bay Area hip hop scene that emerged in the early 2000s. In 2003, when Fat Tone was 22, he was shot while riding in a car through the Westport area of Kansas City with, interestingly, Dre associates Messy Marv and Killa Tay. Andre Louis Hicks (July 5, 1970 November 1, 2004), known by his stage name Mac Dre, was an American rapper from Vallejo, California. According to Davey D, Dre had nothing to do with it, he says. Hill would later ditch the Infiniti, telling Taylor that he sold it to a man named Papoose.. He was the center of his community; a guiding light that acted as a beacon for those closest to him. A dark-colored SUV was seen speeding away. The posthumous. In exchange for his testimony, he was let out a few weeks after Mr. Dows trial, said Gray, managing attorney of a San Francisco DA unit that investigates police shootings and other use-of-force incidents, called the Independent Investigations Bureau. Dow is now trying to have his convictions overturned, citing new evidence that a witness who testified against him fabricated his testimony. On Friday, October 29, 2004, Dre and several other Bay Area rappers performed a show in Kansas City, Kansas. When he died, a certain momentum was killed with him and he left a void thats still yet to be filled. Mac Dre once again showed up late. While driving back to Vallejo, the car was surrounded by the FBI, Fresno, and Vallejo police. A dark-colored SUV had been seen speeding away; shortly after, Cowboys Saturn sedan, which Laursen had been driving, turned up burning in Richmond. ". Diggs goes into some detail about the story on his song Rompaugraphy, and his interviews confirm he and his crew were in Kansas City head-hunting after Dres murder. The Disney+ spin-off first premiered back in 2019 . Kansas City Detective Everett Babcock arrived to the scene of a murder on the morning after Halloween in 2004. Thats why his statement went no further than the investigative reports of Detective Babcock. Authorities linked the killings to the fatal shooting of Andre Mac Dre Hicks after a show in Kansas City a year earlier. He took the tip to KCPD and the case was solved not long after. [citation needed], Mac Dre moved to the Arden-Arcade area of Sacramento in 1998 in attempt to distance himself from Vallejo law enforcement. Dres crew was determined to find out. While there, he recorded raps over the Fresno county jail telephone, where he taunted law enforcement. Not feelin the heavy-handed tactics, Dre recorded Punk Police, proclaiming his innocence, in which he raps, They said some banks were robbed, and I fit the description / But thats drama, so save if for your mama / Im not criminal-minded, punk police / Ima dope rhyme dealer, not a money stealer, and You labeled us a ruthless G-A-N-G / But the biggest Gangstas are the VPD / They hate to see me drivin a car I bought / They hate how I talk, I cant spit on the sidewalk. He even went as far as to call out VPD detective David McGraw, the cop he felt was most responsible for the harassment. Andre Louis Hicks, better known by his stage name Mac Dre, was an American rapper, hip hop pioneer, and record producer based in Vallejo, California. Show your support to our ongoing efforts to catalogue the best music writing on the internet by subscribing to the Passion of the Weiss Patreon. Telly 8. She thought he'd take care of her. The dead body belonged to Andre Hicks, known to the world as Mac Dre, one of the most influential hip-hop artists in history. In October of 2004, a Kansas City man named Damon Whitmill hoped to capitalize on Mac Dres popularity by bankrolling and promoting a rap show at what was then the Kansas City National Guard Armory. The eldest daughter of hip-hop producer Dr. Dre recently revealed in an interview with Daily Mail that she has been living out of a rented SUV, working as a Door Dash driver, while her children. Calvary Baptist Church. The prosecutor also said that the death would be painless, which defense for Antwine argued was untrue and manipulative to the jury. The informant told Detective Babcock that Davila called Piersey, the driver of his van that was transporting Mac Dre, to find out their location for Whitmill, who then sent the shooters to attack the van, resulting in Mac Dres death. During the interview, they begged her to cooperate, even promising to help her get her life back on track, but she refused. Davila seems to feel guilty for the role he played in his friends death and has tried to find ways to tell detectives since getting arrested in 2006. The 35-year-old rap promoter was indicted Nov. 2 in Las Vegas on murder charges stemming from the deaths of Watkins and Akins. It took several years for Wanda Mac to deal with her son's passing and his status as a rising rapper who became more famous upon his death. [14] Davila brought Mac Dre to his hotel, where they hung out and listened to music. Some people wanted to sell drugs, and do all that, Sleep Dank says. He asked Bussey if Whitmill was ever going to provide that DNA sample. In 2011, Mac Dre received an influx of new fans after Drake gave him a shout out in his hit single, Motto featuring Lil Wayne. To my knowledge MD was never married, but he definitely has a daughter; that implies that he was likely close to the daughter's mom at one point in his life, however, I can't find anything about her mom with a quick Google search, and we can't really be sure how close they really were - really not unheard of for famous or rising (in MD's case) Davila took his kids trick-or-treating and Mac Dre went to a local IHop for food. Responding officers found shell casings for two separate weapons, multiple 7.62X39 Wolf shell casings, as well as two .45 Caliber spent shell casings. Its unclear if that ever happened. Hicks is considered one of the movement's key pioneers that fueled its popularity into mainstream, releasing songs . His brash, violent and honest take on midwest hip-hop captured the ears of his Bay Area contemporaries in a way other Kansas City rappers hadnt. Detectives told Taylor that it seems strange that someone he didnt know would pull up alongside him for no reason and then give him a ride. Anthony Fat Tone Watkins was a large figure, literally and figuratively. He claimed to have sold the car to Fat Tone on the day before Halloween. On the way back to Fresno, the car was pulled over and surrounded by officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation as well as Vallejo police. Get away from here. According to DJ, hip-hop historian, and co-founder of the Bay Area Hip Hop Coalition Davey D, There was a point when the Vallejo police arrested forty-odd people and they looked at music lyrics around Romper Room or the Compilation album [a Dre-led compilation of Crest-Side rappers] as part of a way to round up folks.. Detective Everett Babcock is somewhat of a celebrity among his peers at the KCPD for appearing on The First 48 in the mid-2000s. Its all tangled up, Mr. Stinky says. He asked him if hed submit a DNA sample to help with the investigation. For doing so, however, Dres respect and legacy as a real one only grew. His San Francisco attorney, Eric Safire, says his client isn't capable of murder but admits that Dow is capable of basking in the negative publicity. When Mac Dres friends saw the news crew, they called it off, according to documents provided by the FBI. While Corleone was already in custody, however, Ministers whereabouts were still unknown. That was always the big payoff moment for me as a detective, he says. He always called me if he was coming through K.C. I did seen Mac Dre on the turn knock out a cat three times his size. In any case, Yukmouth and Keak would later admit to Vlad that the atmosphere in Kansas City was tense.. She wouldnt stand for it, Hendrix said. "She had information that could be very damaging," Hendrix said. And like most of the other Bay Area rappers, he had a large fan base in Kansas City, Missouri. P.O.P. Soon, Mathis' Saturn sedan, which Laursen had been driving, turned up burning in Richmond, said Fairfield police Lt. Tony Shipp. He even went so far as to tell detectives that he witnessed the shooting himself and then went home, turned off his phone and went to bed. According to the police records, Detective Babcock ran into Bussey 10 days later, on Nov. 22, outside of the KCPD headquarters. Though Dre affiliate Keak Da Sneak is credited with creating the word hyphy, a combination of the words hyper and fly, it became a style of music and dance that became synonymous with Bay Area hip hop, and with its gritty but danceable hard-hitting sledgehammer beats, and Dre with his flashy showmanship and sense of humor, he became a perfect ambassador to lead the movement. He wanted more from me. On May 23, in the early morning hours, Minister, Fat Tone and Cowboy left the MGM, where Tone and Cowboy had been staying. And according to Missouri state court records, Smith and Antwine were arrested together less than six months after Mac Dres murder, on March 7, 2005. But a local news crew had caught wind of the robbery over the police scanner and had prematurely gone to the bank. During the police interview, Thibeaux also says that Whitmill made a concerted effort to spread rumors that Kansas City rapper Fat Tone had been responsible for the killing, even though Whitmill knew he was innocent. In 2004, Mac Dre was murdered in Kansas City. The first real tip came the day after the murder, when Detective Babcock was contacted by the local media, who told them that a man had reached out with information about a car. By May of 2005, just five months after Mac Dres murder, San Francisco promoter Andre Mac Minister Dow and Jason Corleone Mathis, a pimp, were trappin in Vegas. Hes been shouted out at least twice by hip-hop superstar Drake;My city loves me like Mac Dre in The Bay, and Shoutout to Mac Dre in The Bay. Rap superstar Rick Ross has shouted him out as well; Rest in peace Mac Dre, throwing up Thizz. Mac Dres impact on hip-hop culture has been undeniable as fans celebrate him around the world, still to this day. When Detectives first spoke with Davila, he maintained that he saw Mac Dre at the Atlantic Star on Halloween night, but left early to take his kids trick or treating. On that day, hed decided to hitch a ride to Fresno with two friends so he could meet up with a girl hed met while performing a show two weeks earlier. When Mac Dre died everything changed for his family and friends. Despite multiple investigations and a string of alleged retaliation murders that left three more people dead, very little is known about the actual circumstances surrounding the death of Mac Dre, Vallejos hometown hero, the larger than life orchestrator of the Thizzle Dance and a key player in the Hyphy movement that still influences hip-hop culture to this day. The front desk clerk would later report seeing four males and three females leave the hotel sometime after 3:30 a.m. Nearly an hour passed before police arrived at the accident. A totaled, white Dodge Legacy van was found on an embankment below Highway 71. At around 2:30 a.m, the white van was traveling northbound on Highway 71 just south of 75th street, when a dark sedan pulled along the drivers side of the van and unloaded upwards of 30 bullets from two seperate guns: an automatic rifle and a .45 pistol. Hes the one that kept us all together. Mr. Stinky said this incident helped lend credence to the numerous rumors that Fat Tone had gotten into a confrontation with Mac Dre that weekend, even though he says it never happened. He wanted me to get into music.. In 1999, in an effort to give himself some distance from the Romper Room Gangs controversy, Dre moved to Sacramento, California, and started Thizz Entertainment in partnership with Walter Zelnick, vice president of City Hall Records. More than 30 shots echoed in the night and yet nobody heard or called anything in until Piersey made it to The Sheraton. The KCPD has declined to comment on the documents. He went through a lot.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[250,250],'passionweiss_com-large-mobile-banner-2','ezslot_3',156,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-passionweiss_com-large-mobile-banner-2-0'); Mac Dres name pays homage to another one of Vallejos musical legends, Michael The Mac Robinson, who was only able to release two EPs under Strictly Business Records, before being shot to death in 1991. He has a lengthy criminal record in Missouri dating back to 1999, when he was first arrested for selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school in Kansas City. He also noticed that the Infiniti now had tinted windows. | Susan Tripp Pollard/MediaNews Group/East Bay Times via Getty Images, By clicking Subscribe you confirm you have read and agree to our. [2] Losing consciousness for a brief moment, Piersey claimed to have lost his cell phone in the crash and tried climbing out of the embankment, where he noticed another car aggressively charging towards him. Dre would get caught in this culture of violence in the early morning hours of Nov.1st, 2004. Theres little incentive to leave a tip when the police cant be trusted to look into it, Washington said. The relationship between the two scenes is also a testament to Mac Dres allure. Its beyond frustrating.. He hoped to sell enough tickets to double his money in a single night. Gary Edwin, who performs under the name DJ Fresh, was working as the sound man and DJ for the show that night. The case was highlighted in an episode of Unsolved Mysteries from March 4, 1992, where police said they believed the men belonged to a local gang called The Romper Room Crew. Police found drugs and multiple firearms, including an AR-15 assault rifle the same type of weapon used in Mac Dres shooting. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window), gave a tip to KCPD that helped solve the killing of four-year-old Erica Green. But Whitmill was a first-time promoter, and likely might not have known the amount of organization it takes to plan an event of this magnitude. Police investigators say Hicks, 34, was shot in a financial dispute, but the rumor mill said something sexier: that a West-Midwest rap war had flared and that a notorious Kansas City rapper dubbed "Fat Tone" had taken out Hicks. He didnt hear about the murder until the next morning. Hes a Kansas City native and allegedly a small-time drug dealer, according to witnesses and informants who spoke with Detective Babcock in the months following Mac Dres death. It seems as if Dre was a pawn for the feds to try and get a witness against the actual robbers, who Dre was affiliated with, but when he refused to snitch, he went down with them. He was later convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in 2008 (for the murder of Fat Tone and his friend, Jermain Watkins) and is serving a life sentence in a Nevada State prison. Piersey claimed that he never heard a sound from Mac Dre. When San Francisco police learned he was a suspect in the Vegas murders, they notified Las Vegas police that they had him in custody. Will we ever find out the truth about the murder of Mac Dre? "[7][bettersourceneeded] Hicks first adopted the stage name MC Dre in 1984, but altered it to Mac Dre the following year because he considered that the name sounded "too East Coast-ish". This stuck out to Detective Babcock since the vehicle ramming hadnt been information released to the public. It took severalyears for Wanda Mac to deal with her sons passing and his status as a rising rapper who became more famous upon his death. Lee Laursen. He told Detective Babcock in 2004 that he spoke with Mac Dre while in a limousine in front of the club. A day later, a white 2000 Pontiac Sunfire convertible was found burning in Vallejo. Dow knew Snoop Dogg and appeared on his albums. We started hanging out, selling dope, hustling, drinking, partying every Friday and Saturday night. However, just as Dres music career began to take off, Romper Rooms criminal activity began to increase, too: they went from selling drugs and other relatively low-level crimes to robbing pizza parlors and eventually banks. We pleaded with her to get out of there so she wouldn't be harmed.". Aside from a black Cadillac Escalade, Davila also owned a white van that he used for odd jobs around Kansas City. His album, Back in da Hood, was a result of these recordings, as were several guest verses he recorded for other rappers. When guys are incarcerated, they try to come up with these schemes and these stories to try and help themselves. "He said, 'I'm watching myself.' We may never know. In 2013 NPR noted his sound as being "fast and confident" further writing that "he built upon the bouncy bass that had its roots in the funk era. When he [Mac Dre] came to The Crest for the first time, he just got addicted. "She was completely snowed by Mathis. A judge heard arguments over the issue on Friday and continued the matter to Sept. 23 for further discussion. Fat Tone was West Coast-friendly, DJ Fresh says. "I told him we expected retribution," Babcock recalled. Mac Dre: Legend of the Bay: Directed by Zachary Butler. Know Your City! No matter how long youve been a fan, there appears to be an endless supply of deep cuts and mixtape remixes to keep Bay Area rap historians satiated for decades to come. Antwine pled guilty to murder and was sentenced to death. However, numerous witness statements say this never happened and police were never able to confirm it. Dows attorney said his client adamantly maintains his innocence., Were going to keep fighting it, DeMarco said, but I am hopeful that he will ultimately be vindicated., Michael Barba can be reached at [emailprotected]. Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for fair use for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. When Mac Dre reached out in early October, Davila offered to have his cousin, and good friend, Harold Piersey drive Mac Dres crew around on Halloween weekend. Hicks claimed he was rapping about attempts to "wake up the neighbors. While Mac Dre merely rapped about the lavish life of a major cocaine dealer Davila actually lived it. Your Privacy Choices (Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads). And would they have killed Tone if he wasnt? of SF politics and culture. We were friends, Davila says when I spoke to him in January. One of those names was Papoose, who Detective Babcock remembered from his interview with Elijah Taylor, who said Papoose was the nickname of the person seen driving the stolen black Infiniti. I would have had a house right now. But newly unearthed booking records show he was actually in jail from Nov. 28 to Dec. 7, 2005. As you know, we were really depressed, really hurt and really traumatized by his death and everything. [2] Hicks is considered one of the movement's key pioneers that fueled its popularity into mainstream, releasing songs with fast-paced rhymes and basslines that inspired a new style of dance. Whatever happened, happened, you know what Im saying?, Sleep Dank says. Before he left, Davila arranged to have Piersey meet up with Mac Dre in the morning with the white van to help with transportation to his first scheduled events: a radio appearance and a record signing at a local music store. His story completely changed in 2008, after he was arrested for drug conspiracy and looking at 30 years in prison. [9] It was during his time in prison that Hicks developed a "better appreciation for freedom, life, fun. So, when Ministercontacted Tone and offered to introduce him to Snoop Dogg, who he (Minister) was promoting a May 22 show for, Tone was excited to jump at the opportunity, as it could finally bethe big break he needed. Mathis "said he shot Watkins, then chased Akins into the street and shot him while he was on the ground pleading for his life," the warrant alleged. Detective Babcock said the investigation was hampered early by the reluctance of Hicks' travel companions to cooperate. Demian Bulwa oversees the news operation, including metro, politics, business, sports and investigative reporting, and co-hosts the "Fifth & Mission" podcast. During their talk, Mouton said, Dow made vague references to the killings and mentioned a third murder. In an interview conducted this past January, Davila denies ever speaking about his case with other inmates. Warren G, Wiz Khalifa, Tech N9ne, E-40, Berner, Too $hort, DJ Quik and Wanda Mac are among the people interviewed for Legend Of The Bay, whichdocuments the late rappers rise to fame and his influence with his compilations and the Thizzmovement. Associated With. For a long time I was not proud of it, but I am now and I think that conversation started with Drake, and with other up-and-coming entertainers like the Jabbawockeez. Ive really owned Thizz Entertainment and that business. In a police report that Babcock wrote in November 2004, Whitmill allegedly told the detective that Mac Dre agreed to come to Kansas City and perform two live shows for a total of $12,500, with the first $6,000 to be paid immediately as a deposit. Life So Far 17. They parked the car and took out masks, but as they did, a television news crew whod caught word about the heist on the police scanner arrived. This was perhaps the first time Detective Babcock realized Andre Hicks was more than your average Kansas City murder victim. When he arrived and unlocked the door, he discovered a group of men were standing in the center of the room, rifling through a suitcase. He believes the victims were driven to the neighborhood where they were killed roughly 80 minutes later. Diggs, who was not present on account of federal parole, doesnt put much significance on this disagreement. In 2016, Drake even brought out Mac Dres mother, Mac Wanda, at a sold-out show he did at the Oakland Arena in 2016 for his Summer Sixteen Tour. In 1992, after a surge of local business and bank robberies began taking place by a crew referring to themselves as The Romper Room Gang, knowing Dres affiliation with the crew, police began dissecting his lyrics, hoping to find clues to the robberies. Aside from Thibeaux and Taylor, over a dozen witnesses and informants reported seeing Calvert Papoose Antwine II driving the black Infiniti, with multiple witnesses saying that he even paid to tint the windows in the month before the murder. They also learned that the blue Tercel Tone was found in had been given to Ministers 28-year-old girlfriend by a Berkeley activist, and they found footage of Laursen buying ammo in a gun shop for the gun Corleone was known to carry on May 14 about a week prior to the murders.
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