Rhymes, hooks and Beets hit Mammoth in the next week

By Mike Coco

What quite possibly will be the sickest funk-rap extravaganza to ever hit Mammoth Lakes drops this weekend, as C-Nut the Shorty Mac and M.C. ¢entsle$$ bring their rhymes and hooks to Lakanuki and Whiskey Creek.

Saturday, Aug. 13, Lakanuki will host a “teaser” performance with former Sheet man of the year D.J. Rodney O. While Tuesday, Aug. 16, will be another night to remember at Whiskey Creek. This show will be musically driven by the return of The Funky Beets featuring Leigh Ann Batista.

The same lineup returns to blow up Lakanuki on Wednesday, Aug. 17. All shows start at 9 p.m.

C-Nut the Shorty Mac, a.k.a. Jesse Lynch joins us from the Dirty South via Las Vegas. With a style reminiscent of Ice Cube and Chuck D, C-Nut seamlessly blends the worlds of the ‘hood and the halls of higher learning with his deft use of metaphor and allegory.

M.C. ¢entsle$$, once described as “having more hooks than Bass Pro Shops,” has been writing and producing cuts with C-Nut since 1998. Primarily a guitarist with a deep love for all things funky, ¢entsle$$ has been equally influenced by Parliament and Prince as well as Miles and Maceo. You will also notice a sonic homage to Philadelphia’s own the Roots and a heavy dose of Public Enemy’s D.J. Terminator X.

The Funky Beets, featuring the vocals of Leigh Ann Batista, are driven by the world-class rhythm section of musical director Brian Ogawa and the sensational drumming of Brijesh Pandya.

Ogawa has toured the world as a bass player, having played with top names such as Barry White, Shalamar and Maxine Nightingale. He currently resides in Colorado and has most recently been working with Alex Acuna of seminal fusion band Weather Report.

Pandya, a current senior in Jazz studies at Cal State Northridge, plays regularly in Los Angeles and will be arriving fresh off a gig at Bay Area hot spot Yoshi’s. His influences go from Miles and James Brown to Chopin and J.Dilla.

Batista majored in opera from Marrywood University, so it’s no wonder L-Boogie can definitely kick out the jams! Influenced by everything from Ella Fitzgerald to Vampire Weekend, you won’t want to miss her spitting like Easy-E on “Express Yourself.”

Joining M.C. on guitar creating the undeniably funky self-described “Itchy & Scratchy show” is Kegan Nelson. On a current scholarship at UC Berkley, Kegan also plays trumpet. His influences include Soulive, Lettuce and Led Zeppelin. Not too fast, not too slow, but just right, he also sets the stage for the newest Funky Beet, Ritter Ganong.

Rit G is sick on the horn, both trumpet and French. He has been a member of the award winning Lunch Break Jazz Band, the “next generation,” at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and shared the stage with the UCLA Jazz Orchestra. From Miles to Freddie Hubbard to New Orleans’ own Nicholas Payton, Rit G has got the goods!

These shows are FREE … and there has even been a rumor of an undisclosed amount of cash available to any aspiring rapper or M.C. who can best Shorty Mac in a battle rap! Can you bring it? Can you keep this classic Hip-Hop tradition alive? Will you come up on the loot? Just be there!

For more information call Whiskey Creek at 760.934.2555 or Lakanuki at 760.934.7447.