Mac Dre's headstone stolen!

**Majesty** · 08-28-2006 09:49 PM

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Article Last Updated: 08/25/2006 09:44:49 PM PDT

Rapper Mac Dre's headstone stolen from Oakland cemetery
By Matthias Gafni, Vallejo Times-Herald

OAKLAND - The tombstone of slain Vallejo rap star Mac Dre has been stolen from an Oakland cemetery, family and cemetery officials said Friday.
Since his November 2004 burial in Mountain View Cemetery, a continual stream of fans has visited the grave site of the hip-hop artist, born Andre Hicks, who has posthumously gained soaring notoriety.

One of those rabid fans may have dug up the granite tombstone and hauled off the 50-pound stone, said Bernard Hicks, the rapper's uncle.

"We just think it's some kind of fan. Some crazed fan who put it in their house," said Hicks. His family was notified of the theft by Oakland police on Tuesday.

"They said it was taken and they didn't have no suspects," Hicks sai. "That's all we know right now."

An Oakland police official contacted late Friday was unaware of the incident.

Mac Dre was born in Oakland and grew up in Vallejo. He was shot and killed on a Kansas City, Mo. highway on Nov. 1, 2004, after an appearance at a local club. Who shot the rapper and why has never been determined, but in the months following his death rumors of a Bay Area / Kansas City rap war surfaced on hip-hop Web sites.

A Mountain View Cemetery official said a visitor to Mac Dre's grave a couple weeks ago told cemetery staff he couldn't find the plot. It was then that cemetery officials realized someone had dug out the marker, the official said.

"That week we had quite a few people coming in to visit the site," the cemetery official said. The rapper's birthday was July 5.

Mac Dre's plot lies up in the hills of the sprawling 223-acre cemetery. "We get a lot of visitors for him. They come to our office and ask," the official said.

Funeral services were held in Fairfield to an overflowing crowd. Mac Dre's body lay in a platinum-plated, stainless steel basket lined with cardinal red crushed velvet, protected by a fiberglass shield.

There was a near riot at the grave site when he was buried.

Since his death the rapper's record album sales have soared.

"I think he's gotten even bigger since (his death). His record is still selling off the chart. It seems like he'll never go away. A lot of people are just crazy about Mac Dre," Hicks said.

The cemetery is open to the public and family members speculate that a fan took the grave marker.

A cemetery official who has worked there for 10 years, said he has never heard of anothe marker stolen. The official said the family plans to replace the marker.

Fans on hip hop Web sites have recently been spewing venom and threatening violence toward those responsible for the theft.

Hicks said it might be time to return his nephew's remains to Vallejo.

"That way we can have a closer watch on everything. That's my personal opinion, I don't know that his mother would think about that," he said.

Meanwhile, Hicks asks the perpetrator to just return the grave marker.

"There will be no trouble, no going to the police, we just want the headstone returned," he said

**amat** · 08-29-2006 03:38 AM

Bay area born and bred. Mac Dre is just the latest in a LONG line of rappers to become immortilized after his death and it is kind of annoying. Either way, who does this? Hopefully they'll give it back.