Heds & Dreds: A History of Funkmaster Flex + Dancehall

Words by Jesse Serwer—

New York radio don Funkmaster Flex recently dropped his first mixtape in a decade, Who You Mad At? Me or Yourself? and he saved the best for last, unleashing a pair of new dancehall riddims from Massive B called Boom Bap (voiced by Mavado, Popcaan and Sean Paul) and Worldwide (voiced by Konshens, Mr. Vegas and Mavado) to close out the tape. Boom Bap, a dancehall-meets-hip-hop hybrid with a ’90s feel to it, is the standout and Popcaan, in particular, comes strong with his contribution, called “Gangsta Way.” Stream “Gangsta Way” below and download the full mixtape at DatPiff.com.

You might not associate Flex with dancehall, but the DJ has repped his Jamaican heritage (he was raised in the Bronx by parents from JA) to varying degrees over the years. Scroll through for a look at some of the highlights.

Back in 1993, he teamed up with rapper 9 Double M (later known as N.I.N.E.) for “Six Million Ways To Die,” which sampled and took its title from Cutty Ranks‘ infamous line from “A Who Seh Me Dun.” The track was produced by Flex’s longtime radio sidekick—and future superproducer—Salaam Remi, who told us the story behind the record in our “Salaam Remi Breaks Down 10 of His Classic Records” feature.

In the mid ’90s, Flex tapped into the then-burgeoning market for hip-hop remixes of dancehall tunes. Among the remixes credited to him in this period was the “Bounce remix” of Rayvon’s “Pretty.”

Rayvon later turned up alongside Mad Lion and Rickster as part of Flex’s Ghetto Celebs crew, appearing on a single called “Safe Sex, No Freaks.” Check out the video, if you haven’t ever seen it, and look out for cameos from Smif N Wessun, Big L and Jeru tha Damaja, to name a few.

As the premier DJ on New York’s No. 1 hip-hip radio station Hot 97 for nearly 20 years, the Big Dawg Pitbulls boss has broken quite a few dancehall records stateside over the years. One track in particular was Capleton’s “Tour.” The hip-hop remix of the Fireman anthem was featured on Flex’s 60 Minutes of Funk: The Mix Tape, Vol. 2, and is sometimes referred to as the “Funk Flex remix”—even though it was remixed by Lil Jon, not Flex.