I'll tell ya this. The first time I heard of Mac Dre was on West Coast Bad Boys 2. His song got skipped time I heard "Mac muchafuckin Dre" each and every time cuz I did'nt know who he was and that shit sounded corny. My boy told me he was droppin somethin called the Rompilation back then, and I thought back to that corny ass cut and just lauged it off. Then I think I started hearin Mac Dre verses on Coolio compilations(which I grabbed for the Messy Marv/San Quinn features, oh how I miss those musicblvd.com reccomendations hahahaha) and was like damn, dude kinda got some spit. So I picked up Rapper Gone Bad, and still didn't really like dude that much besides that Mac Mall diss.
By the time It's Not What You Say came out I was a fan, dude had got slicker and more playful wit his flow, and even flipped that ice cream beat hahahaha. After that was his transformation into his thizz shit, crazy characters and all that. That's when I was really watchin everything he did cuz I knew he was onto somethin and was only a matter of time before he start sellin like crazy. I even was able to go back and bump his older shit, thanks to that Khayree joint. I'm kickin myself to this day for not bumpin that cut offa WCBB2. His later albums helped build momentum in this new style he had, but I still think we never saw his full potential due to his untimely demise. I think the next level was right around the corner. Too bad he ain't got a gang of unreleased material like Pac did that we could thizz to, or does/will he?