Music brings us all together and gives us a chance to let go of the negative feelings inside of us. This is why musicians are especially important to people and have many fans across the globe.
One of those people, who expresses immense talent through music, is Funkmaster Flex.
This talented DJ has entertained fans across the globe with his talent and songs that are still being listened to.
In today’s article, we are going to talk about his life, his character and career, therefore continue on reading to find out what lies behind the fame and glory when it comes to Funkmaster Flex.
Early life
Aston George Taylor Junior was born on August 5th 1968 in Bronx in New York. When it comes to his early life and childhood, he spent it like most kids do.
He lived in Bronx that was known to be a tough neighborhood, so he had to make sure he avoids trouble.
One person that always looked after him and made sure he doesn’t stray of the good road, was his father. His household was very strict and his parents made sure their kids are raised properly in order to become good people one day.
When he turned 16 years, Aston decided to pursue a career in music. His love was music and he knew that this is going to bring him happiness and money too.
His first performances were at various nightclubs around his neighborhood, and people loved his new and fresh sound.
There isn’t any more information about his early life, so we are going to continue on to his career and personal life in the next part of the article.
Career path
Funkmaster Flex is considered the best known DJ in America. With his legendary radio shows “Hot97” in New York and “Power106” in LA, he made a name for himself in the hip-hop world.
He has also been cooking the hippest club “The Tunnel” in NY City for years. Mixtapes have been an integral part of the hip-hop and DJ scene since the early days.
Funkmaster Flex, however, with its “60 Minutes of Funk series” carries the mix taping to the industry and the labels, and so veterans like DJ Clue or Tony Touch were able to conclude their record contracts.
The DJ finally gets the attention he deserves and becomes a full-fledged musician.
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Funkmaster Flex was born Aston Taylor in the Bronx. He got DJing at an early age because his father works as a Jamaican dancehall DJ. Aston buys the first turntables at the age of 16. He becomes Chuck Chillout’s assistant, who hosts his own show at Radio Kiss FM.
His big time came in 1987 when Chillout was late one day. Young Flex takes the favor of the hour and goes on the ether for five minutes.
In this short time he convinced the radio boss so that he left him on the air for three hours.
A short time later, Chillout takes a job at WBLS in Manhattan, and Funkmaster Flex gets his own show.
Flex stays with the broadcaster for a year and a half until he changes to Hot97. His name is now a seal of approval for DJ art on the radio, and so he hangs up at the trendy parties in New York. His first tapes “Dope A Plastic” and “C’mon Baby” are launched.
1995 is the time. With “60 Minutes Of Funk, The Mix Tape Vol.1”, Funkmaster Flex lays the foundation for its exceptional position in hip-hop.
Flex cuts, scratches, fades like a crazy track and freestyles from old school artists like Krs-One, Run DMC and then Young Guns like the Fugees, Mobb Deep and the Wu-Tang Clan. The album gets gold, and Flex signs a contract with Loud Records for two more records.
The next Mix Tape album follows two years later. It contains pretty much all the hip rap stars and old school tracks. In contrast to the debut, the album is much more party-oriented.
His supposed final thesis for Loud in ’98 then largely contains freestyles by Canibus, Xzibit, DMX, Big Punisher, Noreaga and others, rapping over tracks by Loud artists like Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang Clan.
A year later, Flex realized his idea of a club record together with his friend and DJ colleague Big Cap. The place of happening is the Funkmaster Flex home store “The Tunnel” in New York. The two compile a compilation of the hottest tracks in the tunnel. Her motto is: “We don’t decide what is good and what isn’t, we let the tunnel decide.”
The album is then much more danceable than its predecessors and also contains several R&B tracks. After this detour to Def Jam, Funkmaster Flex returns to Loud to continue its mix tape series and will release Volume Four in late 2000.
Even though his musical and DJ career is stagnating for a while, his latest project was the one with the InFlexWeTrust.com, a website that offers his freestyle audio to other artists who want to buy it. This was his latest project, even though he continues to perform and entertain the audiences across US.
Funkmaster holds an annual car and bike show as well, since he is a big fan of vehicles. Some of the artists who have been a part of his show were Drake, Fabolous and Nicki Minaj.
Among the cars he display on the show, he also brings in his personal gems, and shows them to the audience.
Another area of work where Funkmaster showed his talent, was video game industry. He appeared in the Grand Teft Auto IV game and also on the SPN NFL 2K5. Aston borrowed his voice to a character in the game called Jam Vendetta.
Funkmaster Flex has currently a net worth of around 14$ million. Most of his money comes from music and performances, but also from the radio show him I hosting, the auto moto show and many other ventures he has been trying over the years.
Aston seems to be a very versatile artist and manages to keep his career afloat without any significant falls. Even though his career was significantly bigger in the nineties, he has still managed to keep himself on a good level when it comes to money and fame.
Funkmaster continues to make money and will definitely do that in the future, so we don’t have to worry about him falling off the wagon.
Until he comes out with new songs and surprises his fans, we can enjoy the legendary songs and projects he has been working on in the nineties and two thousand. They are definitely hits that will remain forever in our memory.
Personal life
Like the lives of many people who are exposed to media attention, personal life of Aston is not without issues.
He was arrested in 2011 when he allegedly pushed his wife and threatened her in various ways. There were even text messages that proved that Aston did that.
Another controversy in his life came in 2014, when he started a court fight over custody against his former girlfriend called Haydee Diaz. The ex-couple is currently fighting over the custody of their son. What the results be, we will have to take time in order to see.
2012 wasn’t without controversy either. He started a fight against another DJ, called DJ Envy and the fight was live over the radio program.
In 2015, Funkmaster got himself in trouble again, after he announced on the Hot 97, that he is going to release proof that Drake is using ghostwriters.
After he went on for some time to play popular songs on the program, he ended the program without releasing any proof.
The listeners of the radio show were so angry, that they decided to ask for Funkmaster to be removed from the show, and replaced by someone else.
Besides being on radio, Funkmaster tried his luck on TV as well. He appeared in various TV shows, and the latest one he has been in was the VH1 This is hot 97.
The show was a reality TV show, and Funkmaster seemed to enjoy being a part of it.
Quick summary
Full name: Aston George Taylor Junior
Date of birth: August 5th 1968
Birthplace: Bronx, New York, USA
Age: 52
Profession: DJ, Radio host, Actor
Height: 1.86 m
Weight: 92 kg
Net Worth: 14$ million