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"Everyday it's a new rapper, claimin to be dapper then
the Dresta / Smoother then a b*tch but Dre's a rollin
gangster / Ain't broke a law in yer life / Yet every time you rap
you yap about the guns and knifes"

Too most people this was the first verse that they heard from Dresta. This new jack was relatively unknown by the hip-hop community. Who was this person calling himself Gangsta Dresta? Dresta was born Andre Wicker and experienced a rough life rolling in and out of rehabilitation centers as a teenager. Dresta was originally used as a promising young artist to help amplify Eazy-E's feud on the album It's On (Dr. Dre) 187Um Killa in 1994. For all of you that is unaware of why the beef had began with Eazy-E and Dre, it date backs to 1991 as the N.W.A had just released Efil4zaggin. It was a bittersweet time for the group; though the album had risen to the #1 album spot on Billboard, the group was experiencing financial disputes. By this time the N.W.A had shrunk over the four years to only four main members and The D.O.C. running in the background. One argument that Dre brought up was that he believed now that his role had become more essential to the group, that he deserved a larger sum of money. Eazy-E consulted Ruthless Record's manager Jerry Heller and decided not to re-negotiate Dre's contract. At this time, Dr Dre had become furious with the situation and asked the help of future Death Row Records C.E.O. Suge Knight to find a way to release him from his current contract. Though the way that Suge Knight was able to release Dr Dre can be controversial, he was released in time to form Death Row Records. The beef didn't end there; in 1992 Dr Dre released the single with upcoming star Snoop Doggy Dogg "Dre Day (And Everyone's Celebratin') from the album The Chronic. The lyrics from this song is probably the biggest commerical blow against the E. 

About after two years of Dre's release Eazy-E released the answer to "Dre Day", coming out with "Real Compton City G's" featuring a young Gangsta Dresta and BG Knocc Out. Though the single and the It's On  E.P. exposed Dr Dre and Snoop's "studio gangster" mentality and brought up Dre's embarrassing times when with the World Class Wreckin Cru; it never embraced the same amount of attention that Dr Dre was able to produce. Also in 1994 Dresta appeared on Ruthless Record's own female rap group, Menahjatwa. The exposure from the song "Real Compton City G's" was enough of an encouragement to go for BG Knocc Out & Dresta to do their own solo album.
 
 

As you all know, in 1995 BG Knocc Out & Dresta were able to sign a deal with Outburst/Work (affiliated with Def Jam) to put out their album Real Brothaz. The first single that dropped was "50/50 Luv" and then the latter single, "Jealousy". If you examine both songs, "50/50 Luv" has a more similar beat to a track Yella would do for Eazy-E; while "Jealousy" seems to hold some resemblance to a G-Funk track of mid-90s from a Death Row song. The album all together has 15 tracks. One really needs to listen to the whole album to reveal other great tracks that were not put out on singles. The song "Compton & Watts" in my opinion would most likely be the most well-done track on the album. "Compton Hoe", which is done mostly by Dresta, provides a look at his nasty side and view on women just like how Eazy-E the N.W.A portrayed them. "Everyday All Day" is another prominent song featured on the album which probably had the potential of being a single. The slower songs on the album don't sound as well as the faster ones. Throughout Real Brothaz Dresta & BG Knocc Out throw darts at Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, Snoop, and the rest of the Dogg Pound. The final track on the album, "D.P.G. /K (Dogg Pound Gangstas Killaz)" is put out to release all the beef the two has for the DPG. The single for that song was also released, but it is more obscure than the other two singles put out. Ruthless Records analyst Ben McCarthy sums up the album best when he say, "The good tracks were great..." , but the other songs didn't live up the rest of the high quality. It's too bad that Eazy-E's unexpected death came before Real Brothaz was finished. All together the album sold over 200,000 copies with little radio play. You can imagine that the E would lace some tracks down with the two on the album if he was still alive. Also in 1995 Dresta hooks up with the clever Kam & MC Ren on the song "Down Fa Mine", from the album Made In America. What makes this song great is that you got three hard rappers all on one track. Snoop and Tha Dogg Pound released the song "What Would You Do?" on the Murder Was The Case album as a quick jab to Knocc Out & Dresta. Some memorable lines from the song are:

"I'll be the first one to him em / Oh yeah, f*ck B.G. Knocc Out and every n*gga down with him ... For instance, let's take these Ruthless fools / These Ruthless fools & the Pound in one room /
Assume, it's only for conversation / So let's conversate slip a n*gga the .38 then dip / Empty out the clip"

In the music video for that song, the Pound uses two actors which resemble BG Knocc Out & Dresta; the two actors attempt to jack Tha Pound for their money but Daz & Kurupt mock them as they show them getting beat-down. The video in a sense uses the same manner that Dr Dre & Snoop used for "Dre Day" as they mocked a fake Eazy-E and Jerry Heller. But Dresta & BG Knocc Out would give the final blows as they appeared on Eazy-E's upcoming album.
 
 

Many were wondering about Eazy-E's unreleased tracks after he passed away in spring of 1995. DJ Yella, former NWA disc jockey, would have the task of putting together Eazy-E's final album. Yella collaborated the production help with Ervin Bobcat, Naughty By Nature, and Roger from Roger & Zapp. Eazy-E also teamed up with many of the Ruthless Records artists to record some songs before he had died. The first single for the album was released in late 1995. One of the artists that's on the album are the one and only BG Knocc Out & Gangsta Dresta.
The second track on the album the two rip it up with Sylk. Dresta writes some Dr Dre beef as he says,

"I tattooed Dre's name on my chest / Cross it out just another n*gga that I X-ed huh / And you won't see R.I.P. / You'll see P.N.D. / A Punk n*gga deceased yeah"

Dresta reminds everyone of the Death Row Records beef even though by this time the tensions had settled down. Dresta and BGKO are at it again when the accompany Eazy-E on the track "Sippin On a 40" which is a story about trying to get some brew and zip-zags. On the second to last track Knocc Out & Dresta spit rhymes for "Gangsta Beat For The Street". It reminds us of the earlier days that Eazy-E would rap about riding in his car in the streets of Compton. Before Dresta starts to think everything over, he appears on DJ Yella's One Mo' N*gga To Go album on the song "Streets Won't Let Me Go". It's a tight track, primarily for the funky Faze-O "Riding High" sample that is used as a beat. In the song Dresta talks about the time he almost was killed in a shooting,

"But I guess I tried to move too fast / So the Lord had to stop my black azz with a blast / One shot to my back makin small tracks... As I swelled people yelled 'Damn they hit Dre' / My n*gga Del rushed me to MLK" 

What happened after Str8 Off Tha Streetz...Of Compton is hard to comprehend and gets complicated.
 
 

Dre'sta didn't suddenly make amends to his adversaries yet, it came gradually. Not much is known about BG Knocc Out after 1996, but rumor has it that he spent some time in jail. Now that Dresta was relatively alone without Eazy or BGKO, he would stay alone unless he started collaborating with other artists. For most of 1997 Dre'sta probably just contemplated on what to do, and most of decided that he would try to continue rapping. One of Dre'sta's first comeback appearances was on the Straight Outta Cali compilation. Dresta is said to have signed a short-lived record deal with 19th St. Records who put out the album. The album was a chance for Dre'sta to make amends to his beef. Track nine was titled "Victims of Reality" and surprise many when you find out that Dre'sta raps with former rivalry Nate Dogg of Tha Dogg Pound. You can hear Dre'sta's new look about the DPG when saying,

"Famous for verbal confrontations with Tha Dogg Pound / Now we about to hurt the nation cause we're all down...It's official, the CPT / we resolved all our issues with the DPG"

Now that Dre'sta had got his former disputes off of his chest, he was ready to resurrect himself from the past. A month after collaborating with Nate Dogg, Dre'sta appears on the Straight Outta Compton (10 Year Anniversary Tribute) album. He erases any doubt of being a washed-up rapper when he is able to do the song "Straight Outta Compton" with veteran Compton rappers MC Eiht and King Tee (moved to Compton  from Texas).  Also in 1998, Dre'sta appears on the The Wicked West  compilation  by Latino rapper KnightOwl. On that album, he teams up with Leicy Loc to  do the song "L.A. To San Diego". On October of 1999, Dre'sta appeared on the 28 song soundtrack to Thicker Than Water. The track he does is called "Survival of the Fittest" with Westside Connection's W.C. and Young Shane. There's nothing special about the song, but it's interesting to see Dre'sta rap over a Westside Connection/W.C. type beat. It's even heard that he signed with Bandana Swangin' Entertainment for a brief time. The year 2000 is was a crucial year for Dre'sta. He decided not to pass on the opportunity of joining Death Row Records, so he signed with them joining other artists like Above The Law. Summer of 2000 was spent recording the two tracks for the upcoming Death Row compilation. The songs are "Give It Up 4 Compton" and "Too Gangsta". Dre'sta represents his home town on the song "Give It Up 4 Compton", also you feel his hostility towards current Ruthless Records C.E.O. (Tomika Wright),

"Ruthless should have never been Tomika Wright's / B*tch you ain't from Compton / When somebody see that hoe they need to tell her / To quit f*cking the homie Ren like Jerry Heller"

The once dominating Ruthless Records is now being hated by Dre'sta, who was former artist who recorded with them. Around the time they album was released, Dre'sta started his own company called Upwest Entertainment, distributed by Death Row Records. After he finished recording for Death Row, he came out with the underground song called "F*ck N.W.A". This song is controversial to many people. Anyhow, Dre'sta reveals how the new N.W.A is strictly commerical, and how wack Snoop is for replacing Eazy-E's spot. Before the year ended, Dre'sta can be heard on the song "We Ain't Done Yet", which is on the late Mausberg's October 2000 release of the album Non Fiction. As 2001 rolled in, Dre'sta and Kam are at it again on the song "They Like That", which also features Yukmouth from the south and San Diego rapper Jay-O Felony. 

Biography By: DJ Run. (Last revision: 5/5/2001).
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