Over the past three years, UCSD’s free festivals (FallFest, WinterFest, and Sun God) were dominated by younger acts such as Blackalicious, Jurassic 5, People Under the Stairs and Talib Kweli. Recently, however, it would seem that our university is trying to school us on some older hip-hop with KRS-One, Busta Rhymes and, at this week’s FallFest, West Coast legend and pioneer DJ Quik.

The multitalented DJ Quik, who writes, produces and raps, has been on the hip-hop scene since his 1991 debut, Quik is the Name. West Coast gangsta rap was dominating hip-hop at the time, and Quik, an L.A. County native who grew up around Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and MC Eiht, was immediately embraced by critics and the streets alike.

However, following the deaths of Tupac and Biggie, gangsta rap became somewhat frowned upon, and any sense of solidarity among West Coast artists soon dissolved.

Although most of Quik’s subsequent releases were deemed disappointing-to-disastrous, he was able to keep his name in hip-hop circles through his production talents, crafting hits for Kurupt, Truth Hurts, and, most notably, Jay-Z with “Can’t Go Wrong,” “Addictive” and “Justify My Thug,” respectively.

Quik’s 21st century has been anything but smooth sailing, including a motorcycle accident in 2000 and an accusation of assaulting and beating his own sister in 2003. His last release, Under the Influence, didn’t achieve much success, and was quickly forgotten. Never one to quit, DJ Quik is now attempting to resurrect his career late in the game with last month’s release of Trauma, and this weekend he rolls into RIMAC Arena with the task of riling up what will probably turn out to be a mostly punk crowd at this year’s FallFest. Welcome to UCSD Mr. Quik, and good luck!