Tonee Hayes—better known by his regal stage name, Nef the Pharaoh—is making a major mark on the Bay Area’s hip-hop scene. The young Vallejo rapper has been melding the hyphy influences of his youth with a decidedly modern sound since his 2015 breakout single, “Big Tymin”—now a well-loved regional anthem. His latest mixtape, The Chang Project, features a playful collage of Bay-centric slang and inventive onomatopoeia, as well as trap rhythms and slurring auto-tune warbles. Informed by local legends like Mac Dre and E-40, Nef puts his own whimsical twist on the 707 sound.

Nef the Pharaoh
Fri, 10pm, $10+
Pure Lounge, Sunnyvale

“This is ground zero,” says rising Vallejo rapper Nef The Pharaoh. He’s talking about the Bay Area. “We are the mecca. Hip-hop might have started in New York, but the Bay Area gave it its style. We gave it its slang.” And with The Chang Project and the soon-to-be-dropped The Big Chang Theory, Nef aims to underscore his assertion. “I’m bringing it back to the Bay,” Nef says. And that’s more than your typical hip-hop bluster. Nef has scored tons of mentions in prominent music publications—including SPIN, Pitchfork, Noisey, and The Fader. Neffie plays BackBar SoFa this Saturday.

Metro Podcast
Thu, 5pm, Free
iTunes & SoundCloud
Metro has long discussed starting a podcast, only to turn our attention to other pressing concerns (usually lunch). But in an effort to better reach readers and tell our story—that is, the story of life, art and news in Silicon Valley—we’ve decided to take the long-overdue plunge. Last week we launched the damn thing with a conversation between Josh Koehn, Metro’s managing editor, and Nick Veronin, A&E extraordinaire. We plan to publish our next installment of the ’cast this Thursday. Join our discussion of the cover story, news and upcoming nightlife at activate.metroactive.com. (NV)

Star Wars Trivia
Thu, 8pm, Free
7 Stars Bar & Grill, San Jose
Fans of puns, Star Wars and cold beers, rejoice! San Jose’s best Star Wars-themed cantina, 7 Stars Bar & Grill, has figured out a way to extend the fun of May 4—better known as “May the Fourth be with you” among Star Wars fans. Namely, with more puns. On Thursday, use the Force to best all opponents in a round of Star Wars trivia. Then come back for a little hair of the wampa on Friday, “Return of the (May) Fifth,” and Saturday, “Revenge of the (May) Sixth.” Watch out for Imperial traps and be sure to designate a pilot. (NV)

Always… Patsy Cline
Fri, 6:30pm, $50
Gordon Biersch, San Jose
San Jose Musical Theater is taking over one of downtown’s favorite brewpubs with a month of shows celebrating the life and music of country icon Patsy Cline. Opening this Friday and running through May 28, the musical play will feature 27 of Cline’s biggest hits—including “Crazy,” “Walking After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces” and “Sweet Dreams.” The performance also promises to give fans of Cline a nostalgic look back at her career, while also serving to inform those new to her legacy. Price of admission includes dinner and kids’ tickets are half price. (NV)

Dance Series 02
Fri, 8pm, $31+
Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts
Fifty years ago, in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, the “Summer of Love” marked the beginning of a cultural shift, as tens of thousands of young adults adopted hippiedom and its dream for a more peaceful and harmonious future. To honor the semi-centennial anniversary of the Summer of Love, Smuin Ballet is delivering two world-premier works. Acclaimed choreographer Trey McIntyre will debut a dance piece titled Be Here Now that pays homage to the seminal late-’60s movement, and The Poetry of Being by Nicole Haskins honors company founder Michael Smuin. Performances run from May 5-7. (BS)

Bach & Mahler
Sat, 8pm, $45+
California Theatre, San Jose
The penultimate performance of Symphony Silicon Valley’s season brings two of the greatest Germanic composers together under the same roof—bridging nearly 200 years of European orchestral tradition. Bach’s Chaconne was originally written for solo violin, but has since been rearranged for just about every instrument. Symphony SV plays an orchestral version of the work. Composed in 1905, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5 is a sprawling opus known for its epic and triumphant horns, as well as its opening nod to fellow Austrian Ludwig van Beethoven. Director Tatsuya Shimono leads the ensemble. Saturday’s performance is follwed by a 2:30pm Sunday matinee. (NV)

A La Carte and Art
Sat, 10am, Free
Castro Street, Mountain View
For the 21st time, Mountain View’s Castro Street will close to traffic for two days of art, crafts, live music and handcrafted beer. The A La Carte and Art festival will feature more than 200 West Coast artists who will set up colorful tents to showcase their handcrafted work. This open-air festival is family-friendly with a Super Duper Funzone for children to play in while mom and dad check out the classic car show, “A La Car and Art,” and sip some wine. Also on display will be health and wellness booths, home and garden exhibits and a farmers market. Runs through Sunday. (BS)

Free Comic Book Day
Sat, All Day, Free
Various Locations, Silicon Valley
It’s a big day for fans of comic books. Major publishers, including DC, Marvel, Dark Horse and IDW will be releasing free titles at independent comic book shops across the country. In the South Bay, comic collectors can get in on the action by visiting one of six locations: Spacecat and Hijinx Comics in San Jose, Illusive Comics & Games and Legends Comics and Games in Santa Clara, Heroes in Campbell, and Black Cat Comics in Milpitas. Be sure to look for Bongo Comics’ special Simpsons comic—written and illustrated by Matt Groening—as well as a Rick & Morty book and the first issue of the DC Universe Rebirth series on Wonder Woman. (NV)

Silicon Valley Open Studios
Sat-Sun, All Day, Free
Valleywide
Opening this Saturday and running for three consecutive weekends, Silicon Valley Open Studios returns for its 31st year of exposing the wide array of talented artists working in the region. Over the course of the event, painters, illustrators, sculptors and creatives of all stripes will open their studios in 28 Bay Area cities to art lovers and collectors alike. The opening weekend, May 6-7, will focus on the northern half of the Peninsula, from Los Altos to South San Francisco. The following weekends—May 13-14 and May 20-21—will descend through Palo Alto on down to Gilroy. More information at svos.org. (NV)

Made in 1977
Sun, 11am, Free
San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles
When it was founded in 1977, the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles was the first of its kind. Today, 40 years later, the museum continues to collect and display some of the best “fiber art” work from around the country and the world. This weekend, the museum celebrates making it over the hill with a number of great textile pieces, live music by Aki Kumar and Jon Lawton, interactive activities and the SJMQT’s artist in residence, Laurie Shapiro. New works will be on display alongside the museum’s permanent collection, which includes textiles dating back to the the 1800s. (BS)

Nef The Pharaoh remembers the exact moment he decided he wanted to become a rapper. At the tender age of 4, the young Pharaoh—born Tonee Hayes in Vallejo—saw the surreal Hype Williams-directed video for Busta Rhymes’ 1997 track “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See.”

The cartoonish clip, featuring Busta and his Flipmode Squad cavorting around a mansion in black light-reactive tribal paint—his spastic face blown-out in fisheye lens close-ups as he runs herky-jerky from an elephant—made an impression on Neffie.

“He was so crazy,” Pharaoh recalls. “And I was always a crazy young little kid with an imagination. After seeing that video, I made my own rap.”

Listening to Nef’s latest release, The Chang Project, it’s easy to hear the early connection he made with the far-out sounds and styles of late-’90s Busta. Pharaoh’s flow is buoyant and playful—often accented with upspeak, and very reminiscent of that other rapper from Vallejo that any rap fan from the Bay Area will know.

“Mac Dre played a very big part in my career, because he’s one of the artists that made me become comfortable with myself and who I am,” Nef says, speaking on the role that the late, great Andre Hicks had in inspiring his own style. “Mac Dre could take the weakest beats possible and rap on them and make them tight.”

One imagines Nef is capable of the same, which is not to say any of the slappers on The Chang Project are weak. Case in point: “Lauryn Hill,” the 13th track from Nef’s latest effort, finds the emcee bouncing all over a minimalist beat, pulling out layered metaphors and similes in such rapid succession that the brief song not only rewards multiple listens—it demands them.

The Chang Project also shows off a number Neffie’s mannerisms, which were doubtlessly informed by that other great Vallejo rapper, E-40. Up and down the record’s 15 songs, Pharaoh pulls out autotune-less warbles and demonstrates a knack for inventive slang, as well as expressive onomatopoeia: “Look at my neck—bling blaow!” he exclaims on the appropriately titled “Bling Blaow.”

The jubilant track celebrates Pharaoh’s making it big enough to blow some serious cash on jewelry. But it is also a particularly Bay-centric celebration of the malleability of language. From the signature stretched-out “biiiitch” of Oakland emcee Too Short, to the “fo-shizzles” and “fo-sheezys” of Keak Da Sneak, Nef is quick to point out the innovative linguistic contributions Bay Area rappers have made to the hip-hop canon over the years.

And then there was the hyphy movement. Launched by Keak Da Sneak, Mac Dre, E-40 and others, the hyphy style—with its specific lingo, stripped-down beats, signature dance moves and uniquely absurdist, quasi-psychedelic worldview—was huge in the Bay Area. But outside of 40 Water’s “Tell Me When To Go,” hyphy made a much smaller impact on the national scene.

Fast-forward to 2010, however, and you’ll find all the trappings of hyphy’s sonic signature in the beats of L.A. producer DJ Mustard. Swipe left all the way to 2017 and take a closer look at the meteoric success of Atlanta trio Migos: the rap-game gonzo of Quavo, Takeoff and Offset is nothing new. It’s just a different twist on the thizz dance.

“This is ground zero,” Nef says. “We are the mecca. Hip-hop might have started in New York, but the Bay Area gave it its style. We gave it its slang.” And with The Chang Project and the soon-to-be-dropped The Big Chang Theory, Nef aims to underscore his assertion.

“I’m bringing it back to the Bay,” Nef says. And that’s more than your typical hip-hop bluster. Nef has scored tons of mentions in prominent music publications—including SPIN, Pitchfork, Noisey, and The Fader.

To put it bluntly—heh—fans looking for the next big thing in rap would do well to catch Nef The Pharaoh when he rolls through town this Saturday.

Nef the Pharaoh
May 6, 8pm, $25+
BackBar SoFa, San Jose

From San Jose math rockers to an up-and-coming Vallejo emcee, this year’s South By Southwest festival in Austin, Tex., is packed with serious Bay Area talent. Here are six local acts to catch at SXSW.

Antwon: Recently signed to Anticon and pushing a new EP—Double Ecstacy—Antwon seems poised to finally grab that big break he’s been chasing. If lead single, “Luv” is any indication, the San Jose-bred emcee seems to be doubling down on everything that put him on in the first place: namely his Biggie-esque flow, an ear for haunting-yet-banging beats and a twisted sense of humor.

Burnt Palms: With their fuzzy, beach-punk riffs, tambourine jangles and ooh-ah backing vocals, this Monterey-based outfit recall Dum Dum Girls and Wavves. Like the former, they feature all-female vocals. Unlike the latter, their surf-and-sand, stoner vibes are chillier. Perhaps that’s due to the 831 area code, where the swells come in far colder than they do in SoCal.

Covet: San Jose’s very own Yvette Young and her band, Covet, are proving that angular, finger-tapped guitar heroics aren’t just for punky boys from Sacramento (we still love you, Tera Melos and Hella). We’re just saying—damn. Young’s dexterous, guitar-powered rock proves that technical prowess and an ear for poppy riffs are not mutually exclusive.

Geographer: Playing The Ritz at the end of April, the San Francisco-based Geographer has been trumpeted by Live 105’s tastemaking program director, Aaron Axelsen, for some time now. The trio craft gauzy indie pop tunes with tinkling keys, gummy synths, soaring soprano melodies.

James Supercave: The boys of James Supercave call Los Angeles home these days. But the trio’s frontman, Joaquin Pastor spent a great deal of his childhood and adolescence in Santa Cruz, while keyboardist and band co-founder Patrick Logothetti grew up in San Jose. They craft catchy, psychedelic pop tunes, are touring behind a new album, Better Strange and were recently featured in Metro.

Nef the Pharaoh: The E-40-mentored Nef the Pharaoh looks as if he just might be the biggest hip-hop artist to emerge from the 707 since the late, great Andre Hicks. The young Vallejo emcee has a flow that merges Mac Dre’s sardonic cadence with the hyperbolic, stutter-stop, rat-a-tat style of Rae Sremmurd, Future and Rich Homie Quan.

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