24-7 Spyz are an American rock band from the South Bronx, New York, formed in 1986, originally consisting of Jimi Hazel (guitars), Rick Skatore (bass), Kindu Phibes (drums), and P. Fluid (vocals). The band plays hard rock, heavy metal, funk metal and rap metal songs which incorporate elements of jazz, R&B, soul, reggae and hardcore punk. The fact that they are African Americans playing variations of heavy metal led critics to compare them to bands such as Living Colour and Bad Brains. After several lineup changes, the band broke up in 1998, but reformed in 2003 before releasing their first new album of original material in over a decade in 2006. As of 2021, the lineup of the band includes Hazel, Skatore, and drummer Tobias Ralph.
Kool & the Gang is an American R&B, soul, and funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964. Its founding members include brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, Woodrow "Woody" Sparrow, and Ricky Westfield. They have undergone numerous changes in personnel and have explored many musical styles throughout their history, including jazz, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, disco, rock, and pop music. After settling on their name following several changes, the group signed to De-Lite Records and released their debut album, Kool and the Gang (1969).
Funk metal is a subgenre of funk rock and alternative metal that infuses heavy metal music with elements of funk and punk rock. Funk metal was part of the alternative metal movement, and has been described as a "brief but extremely media-hyped stylistic fad".
Spirit of the Boogie is the sixth studio album by Kool & the Gang, released in 1975. It can be seen as a follow-up to Wild and Peaceful (1973); the instrumental "Jungle Jazz" uses the same basic rhythm track heard in "Jungle Boogie", but lets the players improvise on their instruments. References to earlier works can be noticed. "Spirit of the Boogie" features Donald Boyce, who was rapping on "Jungle Boogie". Some African influence can be felt, and the band even play in a West-Indian style on "Caribbean Festival", another instrumental track, with once more much room for improvisation.
Royal Crescent Mob was an American four-piece punk funk/funk rock band from Columbus, Ohio, United States, formed in 1985. Also known to their fans as the R.C. Mob, the band members included Brian "B" Emch (guitar), David Ellison, Harold "Happy" Chichester and after an early revolving door of drummers, Carlton Smith (drums).
Strength in Numbers is an album by 24-7 Spyz. It is the only album to feature Jeff Brodnax, who replaced original vocalist P. Fluid in 1991. On their third effort, the Spyz concentrate on simpler and more direct songwriting. The album has been described as a hard rock album with elements of heavy metal, funk, New York hardcore, R&B, jazz and reggae.
Gumbo Millennium is the second album by the American rock band 24-7 Spyz, released in 1990.
Gangland is the twenty-first studio album by the band Kool & the Gang, released in 2001 following a five-year gap between albums. The album was a compilation of rappers backed by Kool and the Gang remaking some of the band's songs.
Temporarily Disconnected is the fourth album by 24-7 Spyz. It features the reunion of the band's classic lineup, including mainstays Jimi Hazel and Rick Skatore along with the return of vocalist P. Fluid and drummer Anthony Johnson. The reunion and subsequent album were based on the lingering popularity of this particular lineup in Europe following the breakup of Strength in Numbers lineup.
Heavy Metal Soul by the Pound is the fifth full-length album by 24-7 Spyz. Released through the What Are Records? label, it is the first album to feature the band as a trio. Former drummer Joel Maitoza returned to replace Anthony Johnson, but the band decided not to replace departed vocalist P. Fluid. Instead, guitarist Jimi Hazel also became the lead singer.
Face the Day is the sixth album by 24-7 Spyz. It is the first Spyz album in more than a decade, recorded two years after their reformation in 2003. Guitarist and vocalist Jimi Hazel and bassist Rick Skatore return with a new drummer, Tobias Ralph.
If I Could is an EP released by 24-7 Spyz in 1997. It features album cuts from their 1996 full-length release Heavy Metal Soul by the Pound as well as several live tracks recorded in early 1996 with Joel Maitoza on drums.
This is...24-7 Spyz! is a five-song EP released in 1991 by a brand new 24-7 Spyz lineup, featuring newcomers Jeff Brodnax (vocals) and Joel Maitoza (drums). The Spyz's new label released the EP- EastWest Records to test the marketability of the new lineup. The experiment was a success and the band released a full-length album, Strength in Numbers, the following year.
Can You Hear the Sound? is the only live album by 24-7 Spyz. It was recorded at CBGB in 1998, just months before the band split up. They would reform five years later with the same lineup, which features founders Jimi Hazel and Rick Skatore along with drummer Tony Lewis.
Post-disco is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1986, imprecisely beginning with an unprecedented backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to civil unrest and a riot in Chicago known as the Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979, and indistinctly ending with the mainstream appearance of new wave in 1980. During its dying stage, disco displayed an increasingly electronic character that soon served as a stepping stone to new wave, old-school hip hop, Euro disco, and was succeeded by an underground club music called hi-NRG, which was its direct continuation.
Am I Black Enough for You? is the fourth album by rapper Schoolly D, released in 1989 via Jive Records/RCA. It was produced by Schoolly D and DJ Code Money. The album did not chart, although three singles were released: "Gangster Boogie", "Pussy Ain't Nothin'", and "Livin' in the Jungle". It was Schoolly D's last album for Jive Records.
Funkcronomicon is a 1995 various artists collection of tracks produced by Bill Laswell under the name Axiom Funk, after Laswell's associated record label. It is a 2-CD set that was released by Island Records. Funkcronomicon features heavy participation from various members of Parliament-Funkadelic, to the degree that Funkcronomicon is widely considered to be a full-fledged P-Funk album. The album features what may be Pedro Bell's last authentic artistic renderings, as well as P-Funk guitarist Eddie Hazel's last recordings before his death in 1992. The album comprises newly recorded tracks, as well as tracks that have been featured on other Bill Laswell productions. Produced and compiled at Greenpoint Studio in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, Funkcronomicon contains songs that were recorded as early as Maceo Parker's For All the Kings Men (1989) period. The album title is a play on Necronomicon, a fictional book.
Jimi Hazel is an American guitarist, who was born in the Bronx, New York City. He gets his name from his guitar idols, Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Hazel. He was childhood friends with Ronny Drayton, who joined the group Hazel founded, 24-7 Spyz. In 2009, Hazel formed a supergroup with Doug Pinnick of King's X, and members of Fishbone. In April 2002, he released a solo album, 21stCenturySouthBronxRockStar.
[2] 
[4] 