You know what they always say: “Better late than never.” In this case, it has been almost 25 years since hip hop heavyweights Funk Flex and the legendary Wu-Tang Clan were at odds, and now those odds are no more. With our rap pioneers getting older, wiser and still flourishing in this game, there is never a bad time to correct past mistakes. This August, hip hop will be celebrating its 50th birthday (founded Aug. 11, 1973), and there is no better time for the legendary talents to bury the hatchet. Yesterday (Feb. 5), Funk Flex took to Instagram to officially let bygones be bygones between HOT 97, Wu-Tang Clan and himself.
“I WANNA TAKE THIS TIME TO APOLOGIZE TO THE RZA AND THE ENTIRE WU TANG CLAN! ALMOST 25 YEARS AGO THE GROUP, ME AND HOT 97 HAD A DISAGREEMENT THAT TO ME NEVER GOT PUT TO BED. AND I APOLOGIZE!” Flex wrote in the caption of a photo of himself with RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan. “LOOKING BACK AT THIS 20 SOMETHING YEARS LATER, WE GONNA MAKE UP FOR THE TIME WE MISSED,” he further wrote. “THE WORLD’S GREATEST RAP GROUP AND THE WORLD’S GREATEST RADIO STATIONS ARE GOING TO COME TOGETHER BRING U SOMETHING AMAZING!” Raekwon commented on the post: “Nothing but love Black man! And that’s Reciprocal!”
RZA also made the matter even better by commenting three Wu-Tang hands emojis.
Wu-Tang Clan detailed their beef with HOT 97 during the group’s 2019 docuseries “Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics and Men.” Inspectah Deck claimed HOT 97 threatened to pull their music if the group didn’t perform at Summer Jam in 1997. On stage at the event, Ghostface Killah led the crowd in a “F**k HOT 97!” chant. “They didn’t play our records for like the next 10 years,” Deck explained, while adding that they got other radio stations to join in the boycott as well. “Us not being involved while they playing Nas s**t, everybody that was rocking with us at the time. That affected our sales, that affected our touring, that affected everything. That affected our presence.”
Shout out to Flex and the Wu for patching things up and continuing to push forward and elevate hip hop culture.