Fay Dog, Thug E. Fresh, G-Pek & The Becky Sagers

It’s been a while since a local hip-hop crew has put on a show in a downtown venue, and last Wednesday, the Six Feet Deep Crew brought live hip-hop back to the downtown scene with a vengeance. The small 2nd Street bar and restaurant, which is typically known as a theater and Grateful Dead fan-friendly watering hole, was packed to the gills for this show. Perhaps the volume of fans was due to the air play Thug E. Fresh has been getting on local station KLRS (listen in the evening for Thug E.’s Nor Cal anthem, “Hella”), or perhaps it was due to the fact that Fay Dog is just a stone player and this show also marked the release of his solo CD debut.
The bar was swamped when the show’s opening act, The Becky Sagers featuring DJ Mantis, hit the window-box stage. As Chico’s longest standing underground hip-hop act, the Sagers have a following of old friends and fans who, along with everyone else in attendance last Wednesday, were treated to the duo’s abstract rhymes over a generous portion of Timbaland and Jay Z instrumental beats. I’m still not sure about Becky Sagers MC Shecklove’s attraction to Timbaland beats — they got bounce, sure, but they’re repetitive. Of course, Shecklove and his partner in rhyme, the amazing MC Hethakilla, are a quirky duo whose affinity for funny, oddly timed and patterned rhymes make even the flattest beats a lyrical playground. DJ Mantis is always a treat to watch spin, and though he was a bit subdued on this evening, his skills on the wheels of steel were plainly evident as he filled out the Sagers’ jiggy sound with cuts and scratches.
DJ G-Pek took to the wheels of steel when the Sagers stepped down and mixed classic and underground hip-hop tunes as Six Feet Deep soldiers Thug E. Fresh and the man of the evening, Fay Dog, made their way through the sea of people — which, actually, wasn’t a sea, but Stormy’s is so small, it seemed that way. Thug E. kicked things off with his classic cut of early-midlife malaise, “Fuck It,” rapped over a Murder City Devils sample, then, with Fay Dog backing him up, the Thuggish one tore into “Dent Yo Tooth,” quite possibly the hardest tune in his repertoire. Fay Dog got nasty with “Nothing Nice” (“it says nasty motherfucker on my birth certificate”) and kept the low-down pimp style flowing with “Nursery Rhymes,” “For a Few Dollars More” and “12 Days of Pimpness.” Not to be outdone, Thug. E Fresh stepped to the mic and destroyed the crowd with “40 Love,” the KLRS hit, “Hella,” and of course, the new summer party anthem, “Stripper Party.”
Thug E. Fresh and Fay Dog were on point no doubt, but G-Pek was the most impressive personality in the house. Not only is Pek the producer responsible for much of the music on both Fay and Thug E. CDs, but he can cut records like a Benihana chef and freestyle on the mic like a man possessed — a true hip-hopper.
– Philip Bole
– Jeff Shaner

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