Those still looking to get hyphy after Mac Dre Day on the 5th can’t do much better than seeing San Francisco underground rap legend and Mac Dre collaborator Andre Nickatina—the killa whale—bring the party to South Side SJ’s Branham Lounge. Often spoken in the same breath as both the Thizz Entertainment founder and E-40, the artist formerly known as Dre Dog has been steadily releasing West Coast underground classics for the past three decades, and even rapped over a sample of “Juicy” a year before Biggie. He might be “The Most Hated Man in ‘Frisco,” but he’ll be feeling the love in San Jose.

Andre Nickatina
Thurs, 8pm, $40
Branham Lounge, San Jose

Bay Area O.G. Andre Nickatina returns to San Jose with more tales from the Fillmore. Dre Dog first burst onto the Bay Area’s underground rap scene in the early ’90s, spinning dark and lurching tales about San Francisco street life over off-kilter and woozy beats. In other words, the guy has been doing what your favorite SoundCloud rapper does for longer than they’ve even been alive. But don’t get it twisted. Nicky may have a few gray hairs on his chin, but age has not rusted his wit or his knack for infectious hooks. He dropped his 13th studio album, Pisces, last spring. Ayo!

Andre Nickatina 
Thu, 10pm, $20
Avery Lounge, San Jose

Bay Area O.G. Andre Nickatina returns to San Jose with more tales from the Fillmore. The guy has been doing it for longer than your favorite SoundCloud rapper has been alive, but don’t think his age has rusted his wit or his tongue. Even the passing of time won’t stop him from heating up the venue with his decadent baritone and knack for infectious hooks. Nickatina’s output has been relatively minimal this year, but considering he’s got 17 albums and countless other projects worth of material to pull from, the BackBar has nothing to worry about.

Andre Nickatina
Thu, 9pm, $20
BackBar SoFa, San Jose

“I like candied yams, I never jeopardize who I am!” says Andre Nickatina, the renowned West Coast rap veteran who’s making a highly anticipated tour stop at Santa Clara’s Avalon Nightclub this week. Formally known as Dre Dog, Nickatina has achieved luminary status through slanging tapes and CDs hand-to-hand, most of which solely talk about drugs, money, or women.

On his most recent mixtape, Where’s My Money?, he raps in different cadences over an array of production both old and new. His voice, calm and confident, continues to age well. But his music is mainly—and has always been—more about personality than delivery; more vibe than subject matter.

That’s how has he grabbed such a huge following through the years. After all, he’s hardly the first rapper to fixate on his chosen subject matter. Yet he’s popular enough to have toured internationally since his 1993 debut The New Jim Jones, when he was still known as Dre Dog (a handle he dropped after his second project). The subsequent I Hate You With A Passion peaked impressively at #3 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart with no major promo push or marketing campaign.

He’s also maintained a mysterious aura around his whole hustle, rarely doing interviews and often times eluding journalists and fans. What’s special about his rise is that the Internet wasn’t then what it is now. And while his career got a shot in the arm certainly as file sharing exploded, he’s essentially thrived on what even the most mainstream of artists sometimes can’t: simple word of mouth. He’s gone from performing at public venues or any college campus that would have him to his current 44-city tour, selling out huge venues.

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: