CashmereThoughts
Veteran
damn breh dem bay area nikkas is right, they invented everything
Funk Master Flex on Juan Epstein (2 Hours)
- Thread starter FreshAIG
- Start date
damn breh dem bay area nikkas is right, they invented everything
Long Live The Kane
Tyrant Titan
Bout half way through it... shyt is dope so far... It's always dope when cats like flex speak candidly bout the times when they were just fans of this shyt, puts shyt in a historic context
TheYoungPolitician
Keepin It 3Hunna, Fam
I just watched the 22 minute video and now I'm pushing play on the podcast...already the GOAT 
Newark88
Superstar
I'm also glad that he mention how Stretch and Bobbito were also influential on him and the radio game as well
TheYoungPolitician
Keepin It 3Hunna, Fam
Hip-Hop Radio as we know it today all came from KMEL. Rick Cummings imported it first at Power 106 LA (where the Baka Boyz came up with the "Where Hip Hop Lives" slogan) then took it to Hot 97.
Piff Perkins
Veteran
Man this is a dope ass interview. I've been waiting for them to get Flex.
Newark88
Superstar
And what gave Hot 97 the edge over Kiss and BLS in 94/95 were 2 things. 1, Although Kiss and BLS had mixshows that played Hip Hop in the 80's and early 90's, it was very seldom getting played during the day. I mean you would hear rap here and there that were popular during the day but that was about it. So when Hot 97 capitalized off that and started playing rap all day, it was the changing of the guard. 2, Around this time, Kiss FM gets bought out by Emmis Communications (which is Hot 97"s parent company). Once they go under the Emmis umbrella, they are forced to switch their format to a classic soul, oldies R&B station. Also with this, Red Alert and Wendy Williams (who were previously on Kiss) goes over to Hot 97. And BLS changes their format to the same one as Kiss because they folded under the pressure of people like Calvin Butts and C Delores Tucker, who were on their ban/clean up "gangsta rap" crusade. So this allowed Hot 97 to have free reign in the 90's as the only source for Hip Hop on NY radio (outside of underground college radio ie Stretch and Bobbito on WKCR or Martin Moore and Meyhem on WNYU). I remember 92/ 93 it was all about Kiss FM. Once Capri left BLS in late 92, BLS was kinda finished. By Fall 93 Hot 97 starts picking up steam solely off of Flex mixshow, because by this time he"s on everyday now (weekdays from 10 to midnight plus Fridays and Saturdays). And Hot starts slowly adding Hip Hop and R&B into their playlist. Also around this time, Ed Lover and Dr. Dre start doing the morning show on Hot 97. By early 94, Hot 97 takes the crown in the city from Kiss. It's crazy if you think about it because I remember listening to Flex when he first headed over to Hot in late 92. And I just so happen to find him on there by accident as I was switching the dial on the radio. I honestly didn't think he would last on there because Hot 97 at the time was strictly dance music and he was the only one playing Hip Hop. And I remember a few months after, we would only turn on Hot 97 solely for when his show would come on. So within that 1 year span for Hot 97 being the least listen to amongst us to the most listen to beating out the competition was historic. And we can say what we want about Flex, for him to put a weak station that nobody cared about on his back and take it to number is legendary status
The Dust King
A Childrens Story
The Devil's Advocate
Call me Dad
i just got a real lesson in hip-hop.. i'm an 80s baby.. i REMEMBER run and rakim and kane and them... but i KNOW AND LOVE wu, biggie, dre, my 90s shyt.. those were my teen years
so to hear about how it was in the 70s and 80s... and how it changed... that was some real shyt. nobody really speaks on our history like that. i wish we'd really start respecting our elders and getting more of their stories on radio and interviews before we really let that era just fade away
so to hear about how it was in the 70s and 80s... and how it changed... that was some real shyt. nobody really speaks on our history like that. i wish we'd really start respecting our elders and getting more of their stories on radio and interviews before we really let that era just fade away
Newark88
Superstar
Also, KMEL started Summer Jam first
Facts
Newark88
Superstar
From hearing the stories, I wish I was old enough to go to the Latin Quarter. I guess my Tunnel experiences will have to do lol
Newark88
Superstar
Flex spoke on a lot of real shyt... great interview.
And it's funny he spoke about people who flipped on him once he no longer played their records... he once gave an interview on the radio out here, back when he was putting out the third mix tape album. He was asked 'what's been your worst experience' and he said the same thing, but back then he named the names. I remember him saying Fu-Schnickens, Double X Posse, Black Sheep, and maybe a couple others... said that once they were making records that weren't as strong and he wasn't playin' their shyt, he became the bad guy. And really, it makes sense in hindsight tho'- nikkas' careers got altered by that rise of Bad Boy, Wu, BCC, and Queens in the mid-90s. It really did affect a gang of muhfukkas who had been on-fire hot in the previous years. Some nikkas had just been hot in '92-'93 and couldn't score half a hit by '95. They HAD to be feelin' it once that wave came thru and dried all of them up.
Tellin' them stories tho'... you can tell Flex is really a huge hip-hop fan still. But mostly a fan of those eras. You don't see dude speak with enthusiasm about recent times... you bring up the 80s and the clubs, or the radio years, or the Tunnel years, that nikka gets animated like shyt.
Wild how Puff had him on the bench for weeks, he gets in a plays a handful of records and the nikka gets him a bottle
And it's funny he spoke about people who flipped on him once he no longer played their records... he once gave an interview on the radio out here, back when he was putting out the third mix tape album. He was asked 'what's been your worst experience' and he said the same thing, but back then he named the names. I remember him saying Fu-Schnickens, Double X Posse, Black Sheep, and maybe a couple others... said that once they were making records that weren't as strong and he wasn't playin' their shyt, he became the bad guy. And really, it makes sense in hindsight tho'- nikkas' careers got altered by that rise of Bad Boy, Wu, BCC, and Queens in the mid-90s. It really did affect a gang of muhfukkas who had been on-fire hot in the previous years. Some nikkas had just been hot in '92-'93 and couldn't score half a hit by '95. They HAD to be feelin' it once that wave came thru and dried all of them up.
Tellin' them stories tho'... you can tell Flex is really a huge hip-hop fan still. But mostly a fan of those eras. You don't see dude speak with enthusiasm about recent times... you bring up the 80s and the clubs, or the radio years, or the Tunnel years, that nikka gets animated like shyt.
Wild how Puff had him on the bench for weeks, he gets in a plays a handful of records and the nikka gets him a bottle