Funkmaster Flex

The Five Best NYC Rap Albums That Never Happened

This week, while we've taken a loving look back at the finest album-length offerings that the home of hip-hop has contributed to the genre, we're also reminded of the empty spaces in our record collections where masterpieces should sit. It's heartbreaking enough that rap in an album form didn't catc ... More >>

Ill Bill Gets "Grimey" on New Solo Album

After five years former Non-Phixion member Ill Bill has finally released his latest solo album, The Grimey Awards. The record looks to continue his gritty New York boom-bap vision that help defined the city's alternative rap underground in the late '90s. We spoke to Bill about the people in his life ... More >>

Here Are the Songs They Play at a Middle School Dance

Recently, Voice Media Group held a competition to help determine the best music writing in the pages and on the blogs of its 14 papers. This winning piece by Shea Serrano first appeared on L.A. Weekly's West Coast Sound music blog. By Shea Serrano 1:04 pm: In about 25 minutes, I'm going to be ch ... More >>

RAPPER’S DELIGHT

A Turkey Day show 
to be thankful for

The Top 5 Rap Songs Of The Week: Olympic Edition

There was a time when the best place to hear new music was Hot 97, when the sound of bombs going off would signal a song debuting across the city. But if anyone wanted those songs for themselves, they'd have to buy a whole damn album or sit around and wait until it came on the radio again. Yes, thes ... More >>

Nicki Minaj, Summer Jam, Pop Fans, And What's "Real": A Few Thoughts

Last night on Hot 97, Nicki Minaj called in to Funkmaster Flex's show to chat about the sliced brisket that led to her peacing out of Sunday's Summer Jam. A brief recap: Hot 97 morning guy Peter Rosenberg called out "chicks waiting to sing [Minaj's poppy single] 'Starships' later," then called the s ... More >>

A Beginner's Guide To Funkmaster Flex's Instagram Account

Those familiar with Funkmaster Flex, Hot 97's nighttime DJ and the one man Jay-Z and Kanye West trusted to break Watch the Throne lead single "Otis," know that on top his love for boom bap and muscle cars, Flex is something of a tech dork, fiending for the newest tablets and phones, blogging at infl ... More >>

Pazz & Jop 2011: Nick Minichino On Funkmaster Flex's ALL-CAPS Premiere Of Jay-Z And Kanye West's "Otis"

To supplement this year's Pazz & Jop launch, Sound of the City asked a few critics to expand on the reasonings behind their voting. This is from Nick Minichino, who voted specifically for Funkmaster Flex's premiere of Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Otis" this summer. ​That was the driving force of i ... More >>

Live: Wale Brings Lots And Lots Of Friends To The Highline Ballroom

Wale Highline Ballroom Wednesday, November 2 Better than: watching next week, when the show will air on MySpace. The line had packed itself six-deep, turning the long sidewalk from the Highline Ballroom to Ninth Avenue into a traffic jam of Wale fans. Or maybe just fans of events. Or maybe sheep. ... More >>

Congratulations To All The Music-Related Winners In The Voice's Best Of New York Awards

Das Racist, New York's Best Rap Moguls With A Business Plan. ​It's Best Of New York day! We've honored about 40 different music-related entities in our annual roundup of the best this city has to offer, from the Best Twitterer to the Best Fiddler to the Best Radio Show. Congratulations to all ... More >>

'Funkmaster Flex's Halloween Spook-tacular'

Drake Continues His Sensitive-Guy Act On "Make Me Proud"

​"Make Me Proud," the new Drake track that premiered on Funkmaster Flex's show last night, is virtually guaranteed to be a hit. It's a song about and for women, who have been a crucial part of the Canadian MC's fanbase since "Best I Ever Had." It's got a distinctive sound—clean, deep dru ... More >>

Live: Slick Rick Discusses The Great Adventures Then Performs At The Paradise

Slick Rick Paradise Theater Tuesday, September 27 Better than: Date night at the movies. Last time I caught up with Slick Rick, it was a family affair. Performing at a Crotona Park Summerstage event with DJ Brucie B (some 20 blocks south from last night's venue, the magnificent Paradise Theater), ... More >>

Live: Black Moon Bring Enta Da Stage To Southpaw

Black Moon Southpaw Wednesday, August 17 Better than: Funkmaster Flex's 2007 Fourth of July weekend '90s marathon mix. 1993 was a very good year for hip-hop. Wu-Tang Clan, Souls of Mischief, Lords of the Underground, and the under-recognized Rumpletilskinz all made their debuts, while Cypress Hil ... More >>

Live: Young Jeezy Plays To The Locals At The Highline Ballroom

Young Jeezy Highline Ballroom Monday, July 25 Better than: Listening to Funkmaster Flex break a record live on air. Yep, Jay-Z did come out to play, and yes, Kanye did put in an appearance, but the biggest draws at Young Jeezy's NYC gig were the secret stars. Despite initially taking the stage wi ... More >>

The 20 Worst Songs of 2010, #20: Far East Movement featuring Ryan Tedder, "Rocketeer"

F2K10 is a countdown of the 20 worst songs of 2010. Track our progress here. ​The sensitive-guy song from this Los Angeles group, which reached the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 with its ode to its members' intoxicating qualities "Like A G6," is a wan bit of treacle that doesn't really go a ... More >>

The Ballad Of Kim Kardashian And The-Dream Continues, Courtside At A Knicks Game

​Here we have (courtesy Funkmaster Flex) SOTC deity The-Dream taking in last night's Knicks-Rockets game (guess who won) with Kim Kardashian, continuing their alleged unholy union, about which we have already begun writing a speculative musical. Here, then, are more excerpts from that work in ... More >>

The Ten Best Quotes From Kanye West's Epic Hot 97 Interview With Funkmaster Flex

Left to right: Pusha T, Funkmaster Flex, Kanye West. Photo via In Flex We Trust​It is a measure of Kanye West's proximity to the heart of the zeitgeist that even on the day after a disastrous midterm election, his name is front and center in the news cycle. The Internet is aflame today with th ... More >>

Listen To Fabolous' Bonkers Freestyle On Hot 97 Last Night

​"This the flow that put haters on they deathbed/And make the chicks blow the whistle, give me ref head." SOTC favorite Fabolous stopped by Hot 97 last night and regaled Funkmaster Flex with a five-minute freestyle that feels like as good a way to start your day as any -- Fab seems particular ... More >>

Young Jeezy Is Still Dissing Rick Ross, Sort Of

​Rick Ross' disconcerting habit of pretending he is other still-living people continues to get him in trouble, both with those people and other people who know those people. Young Jeezy has taken issue with Ross' Black Mafia Family shout-out/misappropriation "B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)" -- th ... More >>

Please Enjoy Complex.com's List Of The 75 Greatest Tunnel Bangers Of All Time

​The Tunnel, as you'll recall (?), was a famously wild Manhattan nightclub that played host to raucous, dangerous, and thus permanently legendary Sunday-night hip-hop parties, hosted primarily by the shy, retiring Funkmaster Flex and generating practically their own personal cache of hit songs ... More >>

A People's History of Summer Jam 2010

Drake debuts, Trey Songz gyrates, and DJ Khaled wins at the hip-hop event of the year

'Hip-Hop Legends Concert Series IV'

The Top 10 Records Sold Last Week at Rock and Soul in Midtown

In 2009, the traditional practice of exchanging physical copies of records for money is a trade that might best be called quixotic. But New Yorkers are stubborn people, and the record store is not dead. Below, the top ten records that sold in the last week at a store near you. Rock and Soul start ... More >>

Week in Review: I Have a Blog, This is What Happens.

Rebecca SmeyneThese Are Powers' Pat getting his temperature taken in China​ In the week leading up to All Points Wet (har har), vandals insulted the word "gay" in describing Coldplay, we came up with suggestions for a Beastie Boys tribute on Friday at All Points West, and there were plenty of ... More >>

Governor Paterson Spent Last Night in the Company of Funkmaster Flex

​True story. Apparently our state's governor was spotted out at 1am last night at Chelsea's the Taj, where in addition to Deejay Logic and some other dudes, Funkmaster Flex himself was on the turntables. How many Flex bombs did this coming together warrant, we wonder. One hundred? Five thousan ... More >>

Tonight! Regina Spektor, Loudon Wainwright III, Tinted Windows, and Raekwon

Next week, Regina Spektor will release her first new album in three years. What we've heard of Far is more cinematic than her often bare 2006 breakthrough, Begin to Hope, which may or may not be a good thing. Take a peek at the Beacon tonight. Loudon Wainwright III, patriarch of the venerated Wai ... More >>

Jay-Z's "D.O.A" and the Five Auto-Tuned Songs (Among Many) That Prove Him Wrong

Jay-Z and his arch-nemesis T-Pain, together at Summer Jam last night Released late Friday, Jay-Z's new single, "D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune)," from the now thoroughly-announced The Blueprint 3, is less a Martin Luther-like cry for hip-hop reformation than an awkward slab of concept rap. The concept: ... More >>

New Jay-Z Song Debuts Tonight: "D.O.A.", Vows Death to Autotune

Well, this is exciting. Rap Radar reports: "So around 9pm tonight EST, Hot 97's Funkmaster Flex will play the world premiere of Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 single, "D.O.A." That stands for Death of Autotune as Kanye teased on MTV awhile back. The song was produced by No ID and Mr. West." So yeah: normally w ... More >>

The Mixtape Will Save Us All

If you want them to buy it, make it free

Funk Flex Airs Out Famous Pervert R. Kelly

The Public Enemy Remix Project's "Bring the Noise" b/w "Give It Up"

Bring on the techno: Chuck D goes delightfully trance

The Motormouth of the South

DJ Khaled is taking over, 200 words a minute and one guest-star at a time

Things I Learned Watching the Official Smack DVD

Things I Learned Watching Cam'ron's Killa Season

The Source Under Fire

Here's Your Guide to the Lawsuits, Criminal Charges, and Beefs

Thug Radio

Beef and bullets in rap's corporate ratings war

Dial Straits

Life and Death at Hot 97: A Chronology

Tales of the Tape

Mix CDs Radically Transform the Business and Culture of Hip-Hop

In Da Fight Club

Destroyed

Hip-Hop's Ur-Self Got Himself a War

Minstrels All

Ladies First

Female DJs Got a Foot Through the Door, Ain't Goin' Nowhere

Letters

Hip-Hop Under Heavy Manners

The Police’s Sunday-Night Tunnel Vision

Back That Mass Up

Mos Testifies, Monch Eats

More Than One Way to Rawk a Funky Joint

C. Boogie Brown Does It Independently

Butta-Knife Love

Stardust Memories