Spare Parts and guest rappers Judah and S. Jones to perform Friday night

In the apartment space above the Neighborhood Food Co-op and Longbranch Coffeehouse exists a collaboration of musical styles that the people who live there refer to as the meshing of organic music and highly energetic funk.

This collaboration of sorts is between the energetic funk and jazz fusion of Spare Parts and the rap and hip-hop of S. Jones and Judah. S. Jones and Judah are otherwise known as the Chosen Few. These men are gearing up for what is being billed as a hip-hop extravaganza, and that is exactly what they intend to deliver at 10 p.m. Friday at Copper Dragon.

Spare Parts features Kevin Kozol on keyboard, Colin Scott on bass, Troy Brenningmeyer on guitar and Mike Bruno on drums. The event will kick off with a set by Spare Parts, performing its energetically funky tunes with a guest appearance by specialty percussionist Matt Linsin. After the first set, the group will provide the beat for featured rappers Judah and S. Jones.

Spare Parts is a largely instrumental outfit composed of various rock, funk and jazz elements to create something far grander than each of its components. Brenningmeyer said his musical outlook and guitar playing are influenced by musician Chick Corea and the group Return to Forever. At an earlier age, his brother's guitar mimicry of Eddie Van Halen's "Eruption" guitar solo fascinated him so much that he feels rock continues to have a solid hold within the sound of Spare Parts.

Colin Scott is heavily influenced by Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and Nintendo, although it's uncertain how the two have a direct correlation.

Kozol has an easier explanation for the diversity within the sound of Spare Parts.

"We're products of the '70s," Kozol said. "It's classical; it's jazz, funk, rock, opera and sonata form," Kozol said.

"We're the type of music that they listen to in Japan," Brenningmeyer said. "We'll be huge in Japan someday."

According to Brenningmeyer, the group's songs originate with a member writing "chunks" of a song and the rest coming in and filling in the gaps. This gives the songs greater form, which is what Brenningmeyer said makes Spare Parts tighter than a regular jam band.

"I write the weirder songs," Brenningmeyer said. "Kevin has more pop sensibility."

Kozol said of the cover songs the band does perform are so obscure and unrecognizable that most people can't tell that it's a cover.

Once Spare Parts is done orchestrating its hodgepodge of funky sounds, Judah and S. Jones will take the stage and rap together, just as they have been since 1995, when they came to SIUC.

"We weren't the first," Judah said. "But we were part of pioneering the hip-hop scene at the University."

The duo raps about a lot of different things, but primarily how they see themselves in relation to the community and society as a whole.

"It's about where we want to be," S. Jones said.

S. Jones and Judah have seized the opportunity to work with Spare Parts in order to break away from digital rap music and work with a live band.

According to S. Jones, the majority of rap beats are digital, and the music itself is largely composed of looping different sound samples. Basically, the capacity for instrumental originality is limited. In the case of Friday's show, S. Jones and Judah will be relying on a more "organic" sound. In the case of Spare Parts, the group is used to improvisation and varying beats for greater lyrical freedom.

If one of the rappers gets an idea or feels something coming on, he can relay it over to the band and get instant results. Digitalization requires time to program the beat and once the performance starts, there's no going back.

"There's no limits to what we can do," Judah said. "We only set limits on ourselves."

Friday, we're going to rock out. It's on, it's on, it's on!"

The hip-hop extravaganza, billed as Hands On Rap, starts at 10 p.m. Friday at Copper Dragon. The show features the funk/jazz fusion group Spare Parts and rapper Judah and S. Jones.