San Francisco hip-hop stalwart San Quinn recently celebrated 20 years in the rap game, no small feat considering how quickly some artists rise and fall from the spotlight. Though he’s seen the trends and sonics change—his 2006 hit “Hell Yeah” was one of the high points of the mid-aughts hyphy movement—his modus operandi remains the same: honest, authentic lyricism.

Though born in Oakland, Quincy Brooks IV, grew up in San Francisco’s Fillmore district. Along with JT the Bigga Figga, he’s one of the city’s hallmark rappers. On Feb. 16, he will travel to the South Bay to headline a show at Agenda Lounge.

Quinn’s success has come from adhering to Vallejo rapper E-40’s two H’s: remaining humble and hungry. As his Facebook artist page proves, Quinn is only a call away, still willing to link up with practically anyone looking for a verse.

“It’s called ‘putting paint where it ain’t,'” Quinn muses when discussing his penchant for collaboration. “They take the music to where I’m not taking it.”

Case in point: “Paid,” his recently released collaborative single with genre-bending Panamanian duo Los Rakas. Staying true to the formula that’s made him a Bay Area mainstay, Quinn thoroughly branded the track with his signature energy and delivery.

“Everybody wants to rap like they’re from down south or they have the California swag, the laid-back type flow,” he observes. “I just wanted to make sure I had a record that represented me.”

“Paid” is one piece to a greater three-stage release set to deploy in the coming months. First comes All in the City, a street mixtape produced exclusively by KMEL mix DJ Rick Lee, dropping Feb. 19. In April, he plans to release Cookies and Cream, a collaborative album with Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang signee (and San Francisco native) Berner. The culmination will come with the release of FTC, his studio follow-up to A Hustler’s Hope, his late 2011 collaboration with upcoming Oakland spitter Tuf Luv.

Though Quinn is laying the groundwork for the run-up to his next retail release, he contends that there’s still plenty of work to be done for local hip-hop to gain the same foothold of major markets outside of California that dominate the rap game.

Using Atlanta as an example, Quinn explains that cities with healthy scenes have been able to consistently churn out artists with mainstream appeal. In the case of Atlanta, there’s been plenty of turnover, from T.I. and Ludacris to more recent examples like Gucci Mane and Waka Flocka Flame. It’s a trend that’s long overdue in the Bay Area, according to Quinn.

John ‘Juan’ Maclean’s early electronic music was cold, angular, and removed from the blend of arpeggiated disco and romantic synthpop that colored releases like “The Future Will Come” and “Everybody Get Close,” The Juan Maclean’s most recent album. As the title might suggest, things have gotten warmer, with live instrumentation adding more feeling, as well as some needed humanity.

With this, electronic music is figuring its way into the performance, no longer separated by unmoving columns of sound and technology. Maclean’s likely influenced by time spent with post-hardcore outfit Six Finger Satellite, whose final album was produced by LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy. Together they’d go on to build the most important, or maybe just interesting record label of the last decade – DFA Records, a citadel where one goes to worship terse indie rock, Italian disco, new wave, and brooding electro, constructed from the ruins of clubs like New York’s Danceteria or Manchester’s Hacienda. On Friday, The Juan Maclean will recreate some of that during their San Jose show at the Agenda Lounge.

Universal as they may seem, their origins lie closer to Chicago and Detroit. The moniker ‘Juan’ comes from Detroit techno icon Juan Atkins, whose love of the Roland TB-303, a jittery, modulated bass synthesizer, would spawn the infamous ‘acid house’ sound. Nearly thirty years later it lives on in snippets and recollections, and in places like The Juan Maclean’s “Happy House,” a twelve and a half minute trunk line into the history of dance music: hypnotic piano chords, vocalist Nancy Whang’s monotone flirtations, and a climactic acid riff that bubbles brilliantly over the surface.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For the simple reason that DFA and The Juan Maclean have been going at it for the last twelve years, it stands to reason that the next twelve years will be even more exciting. Electronic music will never die – its posterity is guaranteed by the medium.

The Juan Maclean plays at Agenda Lounge in San Jose on May 4th at 9 pm. The Workout DJs open. $7 in advance, $10 at the door. RSVP to: theworkoutrsvp@gmail.com

Andre Nickatina and Dru Down, two of the best rappers to come out of the Bay Area during the 1990s golden era, are bringing 20 year’s worth of drug, sex and hood rhymes to Agenda’s three-day weekend bash on Sunday night.

Nickatina, best known for d-boy raps and sticky hooks like “Ayo for Yayo,” emerged from San Francisco’s Fillmore rap scene in 1992 and built an underground following with more than 20 releases and steady touring schedule through outposts large and small. He’s been on a hot streak lately with a feature on The Jacka’s 2009 hit “Glamorous Lifestyle” and two new singles leading up to the 4/20 release of his next album.

Required listening: