Tha Best of Mac Dre, Vol. 1

The first in a series that would eventually compile almost all of the rapper’s songs, Tha Best of Mac Dre, Vol. 1 is an amazingly consistent listen for an artist who never received any recognition from the mainstream. Unfortunately, Dre only made it to age 34, when he was gunned down on a trip to Kansas City, but his abbreviated career featured multiple stages, and this collection touches on all of them. The tracklist spans everything from early Caddy classics like “All Damn Day” to slightly more experimental mid-period thumpers like “Fish Head Stew” and “Rapper Gone Bad,” including Dre’s myriad collaborations with fellow Bay Area stylists like Dubee, P.S.D., Mac Mall and Keak Da Sneak. Dre’s ingenious, bass-oriented songs are as integral to West Coast hip-hop culture as anything by Snoop Dogg or Too $hort, and underlying all his raps was this credo: Be Yourself. He never compromised his artistic values, which won him respect from the hip-hop community at large, and made an enduring symbol within the Bay Area. Because he had so much fun doing it, he is as much fun to listen to as any rapper in history.