Several reports have confirmed that Funk Flex has issued a public apology to the RZA on behalf of Hot 97 for their longstanding beef with the Wu Tang Clan.
Flex took to IG not long after being named the station Creative Program Director, posting a pic of him and The Abbott, captioning,
“I WANNA TAKE THIS TIME TO APOLOGIZE TO THE @RZA AND THE ENTIRE @WUTANGCLAN !!! ALMOST 25YRS AGO THE GROUP, ME AND HOT97 HAD A DISAGREEMENT THAT TO ME NEVER GOT PUT TO BED AND I APOLOGIZE!” Flex wrote.
“LOOKING BACK AT THIS 20 SUMTHIN YEARS LATER.. WE GONNA MAKE UP FOR THE TIME WE MISSED…”, he continued. “THE WORLDS GREATEST RAP GROUP AND THE WORLDS GREATEST RADIO STATIONS ARE GOING TO COME TOGETHER BRING U SOMETHING AMAZING!”
Flex hinted at a collabo between him and the Wu in the future, with every member of the Clan tagged in the photo. RZA responded with the Wu hand signal while Raekwon replied, “Nothing but love Blackman ! And that’s Reciprical !!!!!”
The rift came in 1997 when the Wu felt they were forced to fly back to NYC to perform for Summer Jam for free after they were booked to headline the event at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey.
Inspectah Deck recalled the beginning of the beef on the 2019 Wu Tang Clan: Of Mice And Men, where he explained, “The deal was, as far as I remember, you gotta come back and do this Hot 97 Summer Jam or we’re not gonna play any more of your records on your station.”
“They didn’t play our records for like the next 10 years,” said Deck, noting that other radio stations followed suit. “Us not being involved while they playing the Biggie shit, they playing Nas shit, everybody that was rocking with us at the time. That affected our sales, that affected our touring, that affected everything. That affected our presence.”
Hot 97 and the Wu eventually made peace, with the Clan performing at Summer Jam in 2013.
