Happy 50th Birthday to Andre "Mac Dre" Hicks (and the Continued Search to Complete His Filmography)

As a 707 representer, I've literally grown up listening to Mac Dre's music. If I picture house party music from my high school days, his voice is what I'm hearing. And so once again it be Dre Day here in the Bay, bay-bay. But not just any Dre Day neither. This be Furl's fiftieth born day. Crazy. Stupid.

Almost two years ago now my main man Marty Mart of the monolith that is The Martorialist debuted this compilation I made. Might as well take the time today to showcase it here on my own 'spot.

...our fellow Mac Dre afficionado TheBigSleep came through with 5 zipfiles full of jams from the post-Dre slapmosphere.

Download Vol. I, Vol. II, Vol. III, Vol. IV, & Vol. V.

But the real reason I'm posting is I've been trying for a long time to collect all the Mac Dre video footage that has ever turned up on DVD and there's no way to know exactly what I'm missing.

Plus there's a lot of bootleg quality cash-in type stuff was created “in tribute” right after his death. So it can be difficult to tell from the way these things get promoted whether there's actually an appearance from Andre Hicks himself or if they're just talkin' about him or playing his music.

(Usually the internet might be some help, but like with Big L, or Stretch & Bobbito, or a list tracking those in the culture who have died, I found myself in some sense a de-facto leader of these massive archival endeavors just because nobody else had bothered to tackle them yet.) So here's what I've discovered in this case:

Mac Dre's Entire Filmography / Videography

TV Documentaries

American Gangster - The Romper Room Gang (2009) [American Gangster - The Complete Second Season (2009)]
Celebrity Crime Files - Mac Dre (2013) [Not on DVD]

DVD Documentaries

Thizzed Out: Reel Talk Vol. 1 (2003)
Treal T.V. (2003)
Mac Dre Brings You: 23109 Exhibition of Speed (2004)
Ghetto Celebrities Vol. 2: Mac Dre (2006)
Treal T.V. #2 (2006)
Ghostride the Whip (2008)
Mac Dre: For the Streets (2008)
Mac Dre and Kilo Curt Present: From the Ground Up (2014)
Mac Dre: Legend of the Bay (2015)

Music Videos

California Livin' ft. Da Unda Dogg (1991) [Young Black Brotha Records Video Collection Vol. One (2004)]
Fire (1999) [Treal T.V. (2003)]
Rapper Gone Bad (1999) [Treal T.V. (2003)]
Hustle ft. Boss Hogg, B-Luv, &, Husalah (2004) [Mac Dre Brings You: 23109 Exhibition of Speed (2004)]

Music Video Cameos

Dubee - My Thang (1996) [Young Black Brotha Records Video Collection Vol. One (2004)]
Mac Mall – Let's Get a Telly (1996) [Not on DVD]
Yukmouth - Nothin' 2 a Bo$$ (2003) [Yukmouth Presents: United Ghettos of America Vol. 2 (2004)]
J Diggs Presents: Diggs Vision (2013)

Live Performances

Life in Da Inner City, Vol. 1 (2005)
3XL Gritterz (2009)

Acting Performances

Cutting Room! (2005)

DVD Cameos

Yukmouth Presents: United Ghettos of America (2002)
FriscoStreetShow Presents: This is How We Eat!! (2003)
Lil C.S. aka C.S. Heat & 1-Hun Present In the Ghetto World Movie / Documentary (2003)
Yukmouth Presents: United Ghettos of America Vol. 2 (2004)
Andre Nickatina Presents: The Gift (2005)
F.U. Vol. 1: Fresno Uncensored (2005)
G.P. Presents: Mackamento Uncut Vol. 1 (2005)
Ghetto Gumbo Raw Uncut, Vol. 1 (2005)
Hollow Tip Presents: Mercenary Life (2005)
Live From Da Gutter (2005)
Mistah F.A.B.: The Freestyle King (2005)
The Smoklamentry (2005)
Definition of Hyphy (2006)
How the West Was Won (2006)
Layzie Bone & Mo' Thugs Records Presents: 100% Pure Thug Tour (2006)
N2Deep: More Than Money (2007)
West Coast Factors (2007)
Block Beataz: The Movie (2012)

Bonus DVDs

Mac Dre - Al Boo Boo (2003)
Mac Dre - The Game is Thick Part 2 (2004)
Duna - 2 Hard 4 Da Fuckin' Radio: Tha Sequel (2005)
Mac Dre Presents - Thizz Nation Vol. 3 (2005)
Mac Dre Presents - Thizz Nation Vol. 4 (2005)
Equipto - Behind the Rhyme (2006)
Mac Dre - Uncut (2006)
Mac Dre Presents - Thizz Nation Vol. 5 (2006)
Mac Dre Presents - Thizz Nation Vol. 7 (2006)
T-Nutty & Big Roc - State 2 State (2006)

*MISSING*

Town Bidness: The Movie Vol. 1 (2005)

This list I've compiled is the most accurate and complete one I'm aware of. However, if you know of something that isn't listed, please help by adding on.

As you can see, there's one title missing. One that I've been looking to purchase (or if I have to, download or stream) for the better part of a decade. I've searched in local mom and pop shops, larger chain stores, bigger websites, smaller secondhand markets, niche groups, social media, by phone, email, and nobody knows what the fuck I'm talking about. It seems to have disappeared completely, minus a few people on the Siccness forum mentioning that they bought it right after release and a single remaining YouTube clip:

It's called Town Bidness: The Movie and then to further complicate things denotes that it's volume (or vol.) one (or 1, or I). Don't think there was ever a sequel, not that that matters for my purposes. It was a DVD that came out in February 2005, put out by FriscoStreetShow. There was a rip on Siccness at some point with a now long dead link, along with signs that there used to be more clips on YouTube, if only to frustrate me.

Now if you try to search for it online you just find signs of me over the years asking people on eBay or Facebook or making it my pinned tweet on the Twitter account I don't even use. You find me begging and private messaging people who went dormant years ago on Siccness. Or Blogger. Posting on YouTube, trying to message the uploader of the remaining clip. I even wrote a comment on the Yelp page to the Frisco Street Show physical store that has been gone for years. Other than calling every Joseph Heard (the owner of the label / store) in the phonebook for the entire Bay Area, I've long been out of ideas here folks.

If anybody wants to try to help, I've frankly been getting pretty sick of looking for it.

Thanks, happy Dre Day.