Andre R. Acker, known by his stage name Awesome Dre, is an American rapper from Detroit, Michigan. His family moved to Akron, Ohio, when his mother remarried, but Acker continued visiting Detroit and maintaining relationships with people in the music scene there. After his step-brother encouraged him to rap over the phone to Ivan Ill of Jorland Records, they financed his first single “Hard Core" b/w “Dean of Rap” and “My Little Friend”.

Acker and his step-brother formed a collective named The Hardcore Committee including Brother Lonzell, Ivan Ill, Mike-T, Tony Tone and X-Man. DJ D.E.D. (Prince Vince’s DJ) also participated as a ‘member of the family’.

His next single, released as Awesome Dre and The Hardcore Committee, was “Out Of Reach” b/w a Kool Moe Dee diss “I Don’t Like You (Kool Moe She)” and an LL Cool J diss “(LL Stands For) Lame Loser”. He targeted them because they were feuding at the time and he wanted to outdo them both:

…it wasn’t personal or I wanted to kill these guys … It was just real, pure hip-hop and I was stepping up to set a standard.

His third single “You Can’t Hold Me Back” b/w “Committing Rhymes” generated industry interest and he signed with Bentley Records, who gave the his debut album You Can’t Hold Me Back better distribution and promotion than he could accomplish on a smaller label.

Disputes over money led him away from Bentley to Priority Records, who re-released the debut album and a music video for “Frankly Speaking”, which reached #7 on the US Rap Chart in early 1990. However, Priority also gave Acker financial problems, leading him to confront people at their office in a manner that made news:

We did go up in the company, but motherfuckers had to drop the charges because we had evidence to show these motherfuckers were robbing the fuck out of us. And it almost got to physical shit, but it didn’t.

After having their next album shelved by Priority, Acker released his sophomore album AD’s Revenge with Strictly Roots Records, along with music videos for “This Is Babylon” and the title track. But he and the label dropped the ball on promoting beyond their local Los Angeles area, so the album was not successful nationally.

He continued writing music while working regular jobs, enough for an album in 1996, and another in 1999, but did not release them. During these years, Acker also worked on tracks with Grandmaster Melle Mel, Esham and fellow Detroit rap outfit Insane Clown Posse – even performing at ICP’s 2008 annual Juggalo Gathering. In 2016, Acker released the EP A.D.E.P. as a solo work, featuring “I Know U C Me” and “Incinerate ‘Em”.