Funk Flex has issued a public apology to RZA and the Wu-Tang Clan on behalf of Hot 97, after years of tension between the radio station and legendary rap group.
The New York DJ, who was recently named Creative Program Director of Hot 97, took to Instagram on Saturday (February 4) to share a picture him and Bobby Digital alongside a caption squashing the longstanding beef.
“I WANNA TAKE THIS TIME TO APOLOGIZE TO THE @RZA AND THE ENTIRE @WUTANGCLAN !!! ALMOST 25YRS AGO THE GROUP, ME AND HOT97 HAD A DISAGREEMENT THAT TO ME NEVER GOT PUT TO BED AND I APOLOGIZE!” Flex wrote.
“LOOKING BACK AT THIS 20 SUMTHIN YEARS LATER.. WE GONNA MAKE UP FOR THE TIME WE MISSED…” he continued. “THE WORLDS GREATEST RAP GROUP AND THE WORLDS GREATEST RADIO STATIONS ARE GOING TO COME TOGETHER BRING U SOMETHING AMAZING!”
Flex then teased a collaboration of some sort between himself, RZA and the Wu-Tang, before signing his post off as “Creative Program Director, Funk Flex.”
The post, which tagged each individual member of the Wu, saw responses in the comment section from both RZA, who posted three Wu-hands emojis, and Raekwon, who wrote: “Nothing but love Blackman ! And that’s Reciprical !!!!!”
The fallout between Hot 97 and Wu-Tang Clan dates back to 1997, when the legendary Staten Island group were booked to headline Hot 97’s Summer Jam at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey.
Inspectah Deck alleged during the group’s 2019 docuseries Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men that the group were strong armed into flying to the East Coast on their own dime to perform at Summer Jam for free.
“The deal was, as far as I remember, you gotta come back and do this Hot 97 Summer Jam or we’re not gonna play any more of your records on your station,” he explained.
Reacting to ultimatum, Ghostface Killah proceeded to take to the stage and call out the radio station, screaming “Fuck Hot 97!” while getting the crowd to join in with him.
“They didn’t play our records for like the next 10 years,” said Deck, noting that other radio stations followed Hot 97’s lead. “Us not being involved while they playing the Biggie shit, they playing Nas shit, everybody that was rocking with us at the time. That affected our sales, that affected our touring, that affected everything. That affected our presence.”
Despite the blackballing, the Wu and Hot 97 did eventually mend fences, with Wu-Tang playing Summer Jam in 2013.
Meanwhile, Funk Flex recently caused a bit of a stir when he promised to start putting 6ix9ine’s music back into his rotation as a result of the “trend” of rappers copping plea deals.
Flex’s point was made in relation to an Instagram post from the rainbow-haired rapper, which saw him catching some Z’s on a private jet while snuggling up with a lap full of money.
They should play wu for a month straight to make up for lost time.
Did these two gay bears take all their clothes off and kiss and made up?
You already know they did
Did these two gay bears take all their clothes off and kiss and made up?
A wu album curated by flex is what should materialise from their meeting
Flex has always been a made for Radio DJ….Wu Tang ain’t made for radio. Thats fine but I never understood the disrespect, why pretend to sleep on their talent……he still do it with a ton of the current artists that don’t conform to the hip hop mainstream/radio content today. Dude won’t play Griselda but he’s willing to play 6ix9ine.
U stalled their progress at the peak of their careers and u want to make up for loss time when they’re almost all retired? There’s no making up for all that loss. But love and peace now is ok.
I grew up Wu! Imma say that the Wu had that show in 97 on mf lock! I was there!
A lot of things derailed the WU, this was one thing, but there are other reasons they fell off. Egos. Rza not understanding what the listeners wanted anymore. He became like a chef that thought he was too good to just make fried chicken once in a while. He tried to make every dish exotic and unfamiliar to the taste palate and eventually lost the recipe for the Wu-Tang sound. Fans kinda ruined it too. Once they had a zillion stans that blindly praised everything they did not matter how lazy it was, the product started sounding lazier and uninspired. Ghost stopped trying to write dope rhymes and would just say anything. Meth became a weed caricature. Deck never progressed and still to this day never put out a Wu-Tang sounding album. The Wu-affiliated dudes that contributed to their sound stopped working with them. 4th Disciple, Tru Master, Sunz of Man, etc were vital to the overall sound and flavor of the Wu. The replacements for those producers and MCs were never up to par. Peace.