Photo: Jace Lumley
Funkmaster Flex has been eating a lot of shrimp. Since November, the legendary New York DJ has dropped more than 45 pounds. And when he rolls into the Yonkers Tennis Center—an hour late, he had business to attend to with his ex-wife—Flex flashes a smile that says, I know I look good. Slim and trim in white shorts, a snapback Yankees cap, and a gold chain with a pendant that says SHAKE THE BLOCK, Flex is ready to play tennis.
“Normally I don’t wear the chain to hit, but I had to for GQ,” he says. “The chain makes it so gangster and gully, you don’t even understand.”
A fixture at the preeminent New York hip-hop station Hot 97 since 1992, Flex got on his diet, The 40 Day Reset, at the urging of Cipha Sounds, a fellow Hot 97 veteran who recently left the station. The idea behind the diet, if you believe the marketing department, is to speed up your metabolism and rewire your brain and body to overcome hormonal imbalances that cause weight gain. For the 47-year-old Flex, that meant no breakfast, loading up on lean proteins and vegetables, and eating portioned meals at three-hour intervals. That’s how he rediscovered his love for shrimp.
“I didn’t know there were so many different ways to eat shrimp,” he says. “We go hard on the garlic.”
But we came to play tennis. And Flex, who has a fierce backhand, is rallying with his instructor because I can’t keep pace. When I do get on the court, he drops signature Flex Bombs, shouting “BOMB!” every time I sail a forehand over the backstop. After our court time is up, we hop in his 2008 Funkmaster Flex Ford Expedition—because of course Flex has an eponymous limited edition Ford Expedition—to grab lunch at a nearby diner where the staff crows his name when he walks through the door.
Before we can sit down over soup and salad to talk about dropping weight, roller skating, and mid-life crises—and before we tackle his now famous Jay Z rant—Flex needs to take care of one thing: the nasty effect this brutal winter has had on his truck. “Got to get this ride looking clean,” he says, as we head to his local carwash.
Photo: Jace Lumley
GQ: Why the sudden urge to take care of yourself?
My mom passed away. I was eating a lot. I was depressed. My weight was up to 256. I was going through a slump. Part of my weight loss was because I missed my mom. I didn’t want to go through the holidays in a bad place.
How quickly did you take to the 40-Day Reset?
I loved it. I’ve been a fat bastard for like 20 years. The old me would have had home fries and a burger. Now, I’ll do vegetables. I do onions. I do greens.
The 40-Day Reset is a diet program that focuses on food, not fitness. But you still exercised, despite what the program called for?
Yeah, I roller skate. I play tennis. I walk. I go on the treadmill. I was too heavy, man. I was out of breath.
Does roller skating bring you back to your early days growing up in the Bronx?
Am I having a mid-life crisis? Absolutely. I want to revisit my youth, to be honest. I understand what a mid-life crisis is—it’s having emotional and physical feelings like you did when you were young. In the beginning, roller skating rinks were the only places doing hip-hop parties. Roller skating was more how you could hear the music. I saw Grandmaster Flash. I saw Red Alert. I saw so many celebrities back then, man. Two weeks ago, Alicia Keys and Swiss Beatz came in. So I love it. Skating’s tough. I go two hours without coming off the rink.
When you showed up at the studio and the rink after you started dropping weight, what did people say?
Girls love me. Guys ask me about the diet. But you know when I realized I was in a better place? I woke up one morning and realized that I normally needed my hands to sit up out of bed. For some reason, I woke up and got up off the bed without using my arms for leverage. I used to use my arms to get up until I was like, I was so fat.
Photo: Jace Lumley
I’ve sold gold and platinum albums. I’ve got a number one radio show. Weight was always my Achilles heel. But you know what? I’m just big on doing things people say I can’t. It was almost like, man, I don’t want this to beat me.
People doubted you could lose weight?
I think nobody believed me because a lot of people did it, but didn’t stay on it . I was able to stay on it, which was really exciting.
But now that the 40-Day Reset is over, you’re just applying what you learned to your everyday life?
Yeah. You know what it really did, though—it weans you off of that sugar and pasta. The potato and the bread isn’t the main part of the meal for me anymore. Believe it or not, I’ll still do Chipotle. I’ll get the chicken and salad, with no onions and no toppings—no nothing. We still go to Ruth’s Chris. My girlfriend will go. We’ll just get a steak and share it. And we’ll get vegetables—some spinach, carrots, broccoli. When you cannot feel you have to have a potato, pasta, rice, or bread at every meal, you stay slim.
You caused a bit of a stir last month with your Jay Z rant. Have you heard from Jay since you went at him?
[Laughs.] You mean past the time that he hit me with the capital letters in a text? I love Jay Z. And I respect him. This is the first time I’ve talked about this, by the way. You know how when some things happen you go, eh, water under the bridge? But when I got that email [from Jay Z’s website Life + Times], for some reason I felt like a lot of the other things that had happened were not water under the bridge. And maybe you think I’m stupid or you think I’m a bitch. Either one I don’t like.
So have we sat down? No. I’ll be honest, I’m not sure if I care about his opinion and what he feels in this situation. I will play his records to the grave. ‘Cause I’m a fan. It doesn’t affect anything I do professionally. Just don’t capitalize and talk to me in a text.
So he texted you like you were some sort of lackey?
Absolutely. And I enjoy getting in the ring with everyone and anyone. I think sometimes people forget I have a rule if you’re an on-air personality or a rapper. You’re allowed to come at me three times. And I count them. One, all good. There’s two, all good. You ever notice, people never call me a bully? But I bait you, cause the first and second time, they go, “This dude’s soft. Flex is soft.” And the third time they go, “Oh my God, this guy is lashing out on me.”
What you’re saying is, there won’t be a come-to-Jesus meeting with Jay anytime soon?
You know what? I’m past it if he’s past it. But—and you can go to print with this—should he say anything about me in an interview, I’m going to fire off that night. The choice is really his. I’m going to come 150. He only felt 100. He’ll feel 150. Any slick punch line, any slick interviews—we’re gonna do what we do. We’re gonna spar.