Funkmaster Flex breaks silence after DJ Enuff claims he got him fired from Hot97

Enuff, one of Hot97’s longtime on-air DJs was let go from the station last week, and believed Funk Flex had something to do with it. 

The New York radio landscape has been the talk of the town over the past few days. DJ Funkmaster Flex (Flex), born Aston Taylor Jr., one of New York City and hip-hop’s loudest and most influential DJs, teased that he was ending his 7 p.m. slot on Hot97, giving the impression that his time at the station was coming to an end. As it turns out, the station is “realigning” its shows, extending some shows for an extra hour and changing timeslots for others. Flex isn’t leaving; instead of dropping bombs and yelling all over records starting at 7 p.m., Flex will be doing that earlier, now from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. New York can breathe a sigh of relief. 

Unfortunately, as many realignments go, somebody usually gets let go and in this case it was veteran, legendary DJ, DJ Enuff (born Ephrem Lopez), who had been with Hot97 for 27 years. Enuff leaving the station is drama enough, but it’s what he said after that had everybody talking. On Friday, August 29 TMZ caught up with DJ Enuff, seemingly outside or near the station in New York City, and asked him about his departure. When the interviewer asked him what happened and shared the rumor that Flex had something to do with it, DJ Enuff didn’t hold back.

“All I know is, I’m off the air. It’s time for a new chapter. I don’t think he’s going anywhere. Flex is staying. He’s just going to a new shift. It’s time for me to go. I’ve been here for a long time. And I just think maybe the direction they want to go is not befitting for me,” he started. When asked if he felt like Flex got him fired, he was blunt. 

“Maybe,” Enuff responded. “I think so, maybe. I can’t prove it. Okay. But in my heart, that’s what I feel happened. I don’t deserve that from him. Especially, you know, him being a creator on this radio station. He gave a lot of us, you know, the opportunity to do what we got to do, especially in hip-hop, in New York hip-hop. So it wasn’t supposed to come from him. Anybody else maybe, but not from him? He’s supposed to be my peer, my boy. We built this building, and this legacy together.”

Well, Flex isn’t one to take any criticism or allegations quietly. On his first Monday night slot, Flex provided his side of the story, using nearly 20 minutes to give listeners a history of he and Enuff’s relationship, the ups and downs, and ultimately share why he’d never do that to his “brother,” and further places the blame at the people around Enuff who were, according to Flex, gunning for his time slots.

“New York City, Jersey, Connecticut, I would never have anything to do with, not just my brother- I would have nothing to do with anyone being fired or no longer here. You know why? I’m too hot. New York City, I got to be honest, there ain’t been a person that came on the other station that been able to beat me. Why would I be worried about anybody in here? Why would I feel that anybody should not be here? I don’t believe in that,” said Flex, letting it be known with his signature cockiness that he doesn’t need to get anybody fired because he’s not in trouble of losing his job. 

But speaking more directly about his relationship with Enuff and how important he feels like Enuff has been to the DJ game and New York City, he continued, “You know that you are my guy for life. I love you. I’d never do anything like that to you. I think deep down, you know that. I’m not blaming it on anyone else. ‘Cause let me tell you something in New York about DJ Enuff. He is the originator of putting the line at those Spanish clubs around the block. There would be no Spanish hip hop parties without DJ Enuff. He is the originator of it. He’s the originator of doing two or three bookings a night, moving around, doing his thing. 

Finally, to bring a point home that he’d been making about Enuff’s team being the ones attempting to push him out of a job, Flex made it very clear: “You, everybody, you know, uses the word snake, whatever you want to do, you can use all those words…my brother, I love you, the people who snaked you, man, was in that video on your goodbye. The people who snaked you were standing outside when you was with TMZ. They were standing with you, my brother.” 

Funk Flex’s side of the story was hotly debated across the airwaves, especially this morning on Hot 97’s Ebro In The Morning show. In an exchange with Peter Rosenberg, Ebro Darden pointed to the larger pressure that radio talents find themselves under in a contracting media market.

“Who’s playing the game and bringing in the money?” Ebro asked. “DJ Enuff was loved by whom? Y’all or the people who own the radio station? Wake up! You don’t own this. It’s not yours. It’s not your Instagram or Facebook. It’s not your microphone. Stop!”

Ebro, speaking to the politically and culturally unfiltered convos on his own show with Peter Rosenberg and Laura Stylez broke down the reality of staying afloat in corporate media in this era: “The only reason we get away with what we get away with is because we have ratings. We may not be here tomorrow!”

Hopefully Enuff and Flex have had the necessary conversations privately to move on as the brothers they both have claimed to be, otherwise, New York radio has likely not heard the last of this saga.