Funkmaster Flex

About

Aston George Taylor Jr. (born August 5, 1968), professionally known as Funkmaster “Funk” Flex, is an American DJ, rapper, record producer, and host on New York City’s Hot 97 radio station. In 1992, he became host of the first hip hop radio show on Hot 97 in New York, which was a dance radio station at the time.

Aston Taylor Jr. was born in the Bronx borough of New York City to Jamaican immigrant parents. His father, DJ Aston George Taylor Sr., was a sound system professional. He was raised in a strict, religious household. At the age of 16, he began DJing at local nightclubs.

By the age of 19, Flex 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 decline in the eighties, they increased the hours of this urban radio programming.
Due to the success…