SLY5THAVE
Sly5thAve
Sly5thAve is the project of Sylvester Uzoma Onyejiaka II, a Grammy award-winning multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, and composer born in Austin, Texas and raised in Pflugerville with West African, soul, and jazz influences from his Nigerian father and Detroit-born mother. He studied at the University of North Texas, earned feature roles on Grammy-nominated recordings with the One O'Clock Lab Band, and was mentored by Philip Lassiter — who led to Sly joining Prince and the New Power Generation horn section for two years. He relocated to New York, where he became part of The Clubhouse in Brooklyn and Ghost Note, the acclaimed funk-soul collective featuring Snarky Puppy's percussion duo Robert 'Sput' Searight and Nate Werth. His orchestral rework of Dr. Dre's entire catalog, 'The Invisible Man: An Orchestral Tribute To Dr. Dre' (2017), earned the admiration of Dr. Dre himself and backing from Gilles Peterson, NPR, and The Fader. Recent releases include Liberation (2024) and Reason (2025), and he has collaborated with Questlove, Stevie Wonder, Freddie Gibbs, and Quantic.
Bio
Sly5thAve is the project of Sylvester Uzoma Onyejiaka II, a Grammy award-winning multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger, and composer born in Austin, Texas and raised in Pflugerville with West African, soul, and jazz influences from his Nigerian father and Detroit-born mother. He studied at the University of North Texas, earned feature roles on Grammy-nominated recordings with the One O'Clock Lab Band, and was mentored by Philip Lassiter — who led to Sly joining Prince and the New Power Generation horn section for two years. He relocated to New York, where he became part of The Clubhouse in Brooklyn and Ghost Note, the acclaimed funk-soul collective featuring Snarky Puppy's percussion duo Robert 'Sput' Searight and Nate Werth. His orchestral rework of Dr. Dre's entire catalog, 'The Invisible Man: An Orchestral Tribute To Dr. Dre' (2017), earned the admiration of Dr. Dre himself and backing from Gilles Peterson, NPR, and The Fader. Recent releases include Liberation (2024) and Reason (2025), and he has collaborated with Questlove, Stevie Wonder, Freddie Gibbs, and Quantic.
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