Hip-hop legends
West Coast rappers DJ Quik, Andre Nikatina set to perform separate shows
Two West Coast rap kingpins have separate shows coming to town in the form of DJ Quik and Andre Nikatina.
Both soloists are multi-instrumentalists, DJs, MCs, and producers, and both have spearheaded formidable careers from the ground up in one of hip-hop’s most hostile undergrounds.
Since dropping out of audio engineering school with a D average, Nikatina turned his street hustle into a beat hustle.
San Francisco’s Andre Adams took the stage name of Andre Nikatina and released a series of albums during the late 1990s on his own Fillmoe Coleman Records label and collected props for a signature production quality that fused the synthetic aesthetics of sequences and keyboards with organic instrumentation.
After releasing “The Gift,” Nikatina was named “Best Local Hip-hop Legend” of 2005 by SF Weekly.
These days Nikatina is continuing his streak of street savvy songs with witty production, forging a number of collaborative albums in 2012 leading up to the release of the highly hyped “Chicken Hill Project,” billed as the biggest West Coast rap compilation since “West Coast Bad Boys.”
Various tracks from the album have been leaked online, but no official release date has been announced.
The album’s sprawling guest list boasts appearances by E-40, Too Short, Mistah Fab, Brotha Lynch Hung, B-Legit, C-Bo, WC (from Westside Connection and the Mad Circle), Doja Click, Ren Da Heat Monsta, Turf Talk, Billboard Bear, Hallway Productionzz, Doey Rock, Psyph Morrison and many more.
Another rap legend in his own right, Southern California-based DJ Quik began his career in music as a homesless teenager after his mother lost her house to foreclosure.
A self-taught musician from age 12, Quik was a platinum selling artist by the age of 21, after catching the ear of Compton rap pioneer Eazy-E.
Quik was the first six-figure signee on Ruthless Records back in 1990.
More than two decades later, Quik is still on the grind, recently releasing his ninth album, “The Book of David,” and readying the release of his followup duet album with Kurupt, scheduled for release later this year.
Although “The Book of David,” was not officially a collaborative album, it did feature a slew of guests, including Ice Cube, Jon B, Kurupt, Dwele, Suga Free, Bun B., and Bizzy Bone (from Bone Thugs).
Quik is also listed as one of the seemingly dozens of contributors to Dr. Dre’s own “Chinese Democracy,” the 10-years-in-the-making “Detox.”