Funkmaster Flex spins five hours of classic 90s hip-hop on July 4th.
July 9, 2007 10:52 AM   Subscribe

On July 4, Funkmaster Flex of New York's Hot '97 played a five hour marathon set of classic 90s hip-hop. Listen to or download the set commercial free in four parts here. XXL mag coverage and video here.
posted by kosem (34 comments total) 29 users marked this as a favorite
 
Never really listen to Hot97, but flex basically played the entire hip hop soundtrack to my childhood. Made me smile and gives me a hell of a Monday office soundtrack.
posted by kosem at 10:54 AM on July 9, 2007


Oh, man. I can't wait to fire this up and go back in time. Thanks, kosem!
posted by SaintCynr at 11:02 AM on July 9, 2007


Cool thanks for this. Soundtrack of my college years.
posted by wuwei at 11:06 AM on July 9, 2007


July 4 (and a few other big holidays) are usually the only times I listen to the local Clear Channel Urban Radio outlet. They know that there will be family gatherings and cookouts and such, and they usually play some good music instead of the same 6 shitty club tracks over and over.
posted by rxrfrx at 11:08 AM on July 9, 2007


First link has an unecessary apostrophe at the end. /nitpick

Great post! I would've missed this otherwise.
posted by NationalKato at 11:28 AM on July 9, 2007


In the world of commercial hip-hop radio stations, Hot 97 is one of the better ones.

Doesn't hold a candle to Sirius, though...
posted by SweetJesus at 11:57 AM on July 9, 2007


damn ff is going hard in the xxl video. i agree with him re: 90s hip-hop v. what goes by that name today but he still sounds over the hill (like me).

i wish he took it more in the direction of : "they won't let me play this kind of music for you anymore" rather than "they don't make this kind of music anymore". the latter is trivially true but the former is more important for todays shorties to hear. i think
posted by jmccw at 12:00 PM on July 9, 2007


Playing this has given me an immediate protection from the gasface.
posted by NationalKato at 12:15 PM on July 9, 2007


Really great share! Thanks!
posted by k8t at 12:16 PM on July 9, 2007


Downloading as I type- can't wait to hear all the goodies...thanks so much!
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 12:18 PM on July 9, 2007


i miss the good funkmaster flex. before he started playing one verse of a song before cutting into the next one abruptly. at some point along the way he lost all his djing chops, around the time he picked up his gold-plated sl-1200s.
posted by quarter waters and a bag of chips at 12:23 PM on July 9, 2007


Great find. Thank you so much. It's like I'm fresh out of high school, rolling around at some obscene hour of the morning listening to 89.9 WQTQ. I can't believe I just heard Tim Dog's Fuck Compton again.

That said, if Funkmaster Flex could lose some of the ego and let his appreciation of the music shine through, I'd actually find him very listenable. However, he's defined the style many urban radio disc jockey's have copied. Now he and his copycats just grate on my nerves. He's got an incredible ear for music and he is extraordinarily talented, but now he just sounds very commercial and somehow made the 90's sound like everything that's wrong with modern radio. No puba snacks for you!

Come on, Flex. Play some of the great sounds of indie hip hop and rap that emanate from just a few floors below where you broadcast from.
posted by sequential at 1:16 PM on July 9, 2007


Puba snacks!!
posted by NationalKato at 1:27 PM on July 9, 2007


Great, great, great playlist.
But, gawd, does FF blow big-time as a DJ. He really does make this nearly unlistenable at times.
I mean...I'm okay with the shout outs, but does he have to cut the music out completely? I mean, even the jocks at border Mexican stations know to keep the sound flowing.
posted by Thorzdad at 1:32 PM on July 9, 2007


i wish he took it more in the direction of : "they won't let me play this kind of music for you anymore" rather than "they don't make this kind of music anymore". the latter is trivially true but the former is more important for todays shorties to hear. i think

If you listen to almost any college radio station, you'll find out that there is still a ton of fantastic independent, underground and mixtape tracks still out there. WERS from 10 to 2am is the first thing that comes to mind, but WRUI has pretty good hip-hip streaming from 3-6.

Between WERS's playlist, soulseek and the music blogs, I have access to more new hiphop than I have time to listen to.
posted by SweetJesus at 2:09 PM on July 9, 2007


But, gawd, does FF blow big-time as a DJ. He really does make this nearly unlistenable at times.

I agree, but the shoutouts are really only a problem at the edges of the segments. Right now I'm listening to the third one and it's just flat out head-noddingly dope. FF should, however, use his powers for good more often.

SweetJesus: you are absolutely right, and those are great resources. What I love about this in particular is its exclusive focus on the gems of my youth and the fact that for five whole hours, Hot 97 kept it absolutely real. We'll never see it with contemporary hip-hop.
posted by kosem at 2:24 PM on July 9, 2007


Dear Funkmaster Flex,

Thank you for the amazing music. Hip-hop today can barely hold a candle to stuff from the 90's. Great selection. One suggestion:

SHUT. UP.

Sincerely,
redteam
posted by redteam at 5:45 PM on July 9, 2007


Is there a playlist anywhere and I just missed it?
posted by fillsthepews at 5:50 PM on July 9, 2007


#3 is my favorite thus far. Low Funkmaster shouting to music ratio plus Nas and Jeru.

#4 is Wu Tang heavy

No playlist that I can see, but there is other internet coverage of this out there, and I'm sure someone's taken a crack at it. I'll hunt it down when I have a second.
posted by kosem at 6:05 PM on July 9, 2007


i am so loving this right now! Funkmaster: you do whatever you god damn please! this is the first time i can say i feel any real nostalgia for the nineties, it's true, 90's hip hop is fantastic!
posted by garethspor at 6:58 PM on July 9, 2007


Oh my, thank you. My life just improved considerably.
posted by tenseone at 7:34 PM on July 9, 2007


What's up, y'all? Whatcha got to say? Who's on the phone with Ed, Lisa, and Dre?

Ed Lover's probably one of the coolest celebrities I've ever met. Very nice guy. I miss my morning school bus rides with the crazy bus driver lady (shot the wrong way down a one-way one day; same route she'd been doing all year) blasting Hot97 as they introduced us to a group of nerds calling themselves the "Wu-Tang Clan".

I hope to comment more once I've had a chance to listen!
posted by Eideteker at 8:15 PM on July 9, 2007


This is good stuff. You done good, kosem.
posted by nixerman at 8:51 PM on July 9, 2007


Shouts or not, this is good stuff. Thanks kosem!
posted by turing_test at 9:06 PM on July 9, 2007


"my versatility capability is simply bougie"

"when I design an army I can reign have more beef than Saddam Hussein"

"leave the knife and the gun in the store and ignore temptation set by the nation"


"Well its the king its the bumrush with the swing check out the funky new dope style that I bring I'm sugar cake, Yeah its sounds funky"

by the by I'm only half way though the first one, and Flex is killing it.
posted by Rubbstone at 7:11 AM on July 10, 2007


playlist
posted by Dean King at 9:18 AM on July 10, 2007 [2 favorites]


Right on, Dean King.
posted by kosem at 9:40 AM on July 10, 2007


Flex or not, I can't stop listening to these. Thank you so much kosem and Dean King.
posted by sequential at 1:58 PM on July 10, 2007


Wow, it's been so long since I listened to the radio that I was wondering why words were disappearing, dubbed over, or backmasked. It's amazing to me that even in the 21st century, there's shit you can't say on the radio.
posted by Eideteker at 6:34 PM on July 10, 2007


Being from NY and Loving Hip Hop, I appreciate the shout outs and shooting the shit it kinda brings back the whole barbershop scene. I kinda feel like the people who hate on the shoutouts are also kind of a little out of place because at the same time as playing good music this is a history lesson that as a lover of hip hop I feel
posted by Rubbstone at 2:44 AM on July 11, 2007


Eidetaker: I'm listening to the 4th installment right now and apparently either the clean version of or FF's personal editorial vision of the GZA's "Liquid Swords" bleeped out half of the word "cocaine." I find this to be pretty unbelievable.
posted by kosem at 11:07 AM on July 11, 2007


The one that struck me was the "bitch" being bleeped out of "U.N.I.T.Y." I mean, it's using the word in an educational/social equality-promoting way. WTF?
posted by Eideteker at 4:17 PM on July 11, 2007


I'm most of the way through the first one, and this is some pretty nice stuff.

This feels like a good thread to pimp Rhymes And Beats, one of my favorite podcast/radio show/whatever thingies.
posted by sparkletone at 9:19 AM on July 12, 2007


Thank you, sparkletone. Thank you very much.
posted by kosem at 4:32 PM on July 12, 2007


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