Funkmaster Flex
| Funkmaster Flex | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Aston George Taylor, Jr. |
| Also known as | Flex, Funk Flex |
| Born |
August 5, 1968 The Bronx, New York City, United States |
| Genres | Hip hop |
| Occupation(s) | DJ, rapper, producer, singer, actor, musician, television show host |
| Instruments | Turntable, sampler |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Labels |
Loud, RCA, BMG Records Def Jam, IDJMG, Universal Records E1, Koch Records |
| Website | Funkmasterflex.com, Inflexwetrust.com, |
Aston George Taylor, Jr. (born August 5, 1968) better known as DJ Funkmaster Flex is an American hip hop DJ, rapper, musician and producer on New York City's Hot 97 radio station. In 1992, he became host of the first hip hop radio show in New York, on Hot 97, which was a pop radio station at the time.
Aston Taylor Jr. was born in the Bronx borough of New York City to sound system professional and DJ Aston George Taylor Sr. At age 16, he began DJing at local nightclubs. At 19, he began working with fellow Bronx native Chuck Chillout for WRKS 98.7 Kiss-FM in New York. He later left KISS, and spent a brief period at 107.5 WBLS-FM.
In the early 1990s, Flex made club appearances at many of Vito Bruno's operated nightclubs. Bruno later convinced Joel Salkowitz, a regional vice president of Hot 97, to begin airing live broadcasts from clubs where he was performing. When they realized the resurgence of Hip Hop was coming fast from its fallout in the eighties, they increased the hours of this urban radio programming. Due to the success of that programming, in the spring of 1992 Funkmaster Flex began mixing and hosting his own show, a specialized rap program on Hot 97. With this, Hot 97 became the first pop station in New York to showcase rap. Flex has been with Hot 97 ever since, and currently airs nationally through syndication during weeknights and weekends. He is well known for his signature "bomb drop" sound effect over records.
On August 3, 2010, Flex launched his news website InFlexWeTrust.com. He makes the audio, video and mp3's of artist freestyles from his show "exclusively" available on the site. The site also posts entertainment news, music, cars, models, sports and technology. It joined the Complex media network in September 2012, and has been mentioned in songs, including Fabolous' "So NY."
Due to comments made by Funkmaster Flex regarding the late Tupac Shakur at a concert, The Outlawz released a Funkmaster Flex diss song titled 'warning shots'. This was followed up by response songs from Nutt-so Outlaw, Rapology as well as Tupac's stepbrother Mopreme Shakur.
In 2011, Flex was arrested for allegedly pushing his wife Monica Joseph-Taylor and sending her threatening texts.
As of 2014, Flex is battling his ex-girlfriend Haydee Diaz in court over child support for their son Dante.
...
Wikipedia