Andre Nickatina first appeared on the Bay Area rap scene in 1993 underneath the stage name Dre Dog. He released two albums under the stage name Dre Dog:
The New Jim Jones in 1993 and
I Hate You With a Passion in 1995.
I Hate You With a Passion peaked at #79 on the
Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #3 on the
Billboard Heatseekers chart. In 1997, Adams changed his stage name to Andre Nickatina, and released the albums:
Cocaine Raps under his own label, Filmoe Coleman Records and
Raven in My Eyes, which was released under the Bay Area Independent Rap Label Dogday Records. That year, he founded his own record label, Filmoe Coleman Records. Nickatina explained in an interview with
Strivin magazine that his name change was "for the better" and that he raps because he feels that he is talented enough to do so but not for the sake of popularity. Soon afterwards, his following three albums,
Tears of a Clown (1999),
Daiquiri Factory: Cocaine Raps, Vol. 2, The Unreleased [Sold exclusively at shows and appearances] and
These R the Tales (the latter three in 2000) gained him notoriety in the West Coast underground rap scene. Mosi Reeves of the
San Francisco Bay Guardian noted Nickatina's popularity at a CD release party for another underground Bay Area rapper/producer, Smoov-E; Reeves called Nickatina "a quick-witted rapper who spits as hard as
Kurupt does". A combo CD/movie project,
Conversation with a Devil, followed in 2003. Nate Denver for the
SF Bay Guardian praised the album, though. Another album,
The Gift followed in 2005, when the newspaper
SF Weekly named Nickatina the "Best Local Hip Hop Legend" of that year. That same year, he would collaborate with Ilych Sato, better known as
Equipto, for his 14th studio album titled "Horns and Halos", which would be accompanied by two sequels later that year and in the following year. Also, in 2005, Nickatina won the first annual Bay Area Raps Awards for Best Underground Artist. In 2008, he released
A Tale of Two Andres with
Mac Dre. Although they released only three songs together ("Andre N Andre", "U Beezy", "My Homeboy's Chevy"), they were close friends and the album was a tribute to his memory. Nickatina's self-entitled 2013 album debuted at #46 on the
R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #12 on the
Heatseekers Albums chart, and at a time appeared on iTunes' main albums chart, making it his most successful album to date. In 2020, Nickatina released a line of sneakers called "Killer Whales" with the Clothing Coach. Also in 2020, Nickatina appeared on San Francisco rapper Dregs One's single "Fog Mode" and in the accompanying music video. == Discography ==