"Getting ready to tear this bitch down!!! Funk Flex!!! Mean!!! Webster hall!!!"

​Those familiar with Funkmaster Flex, Hot 97's nighttime DJ and the one man Jay-Z and Kanye West trusted to break Watch the Throne lead single "Otis," know that on top his love for boom bap and muscle cars, Flex is something of a tech dork, fiending for the newest tablets and phones, blogging at inflexwetrust.com, and bragging on air about his Twitter followers and Facebook friends. Two months ago, however, he added another social network, joining Instagram (the self-described "fun & quirky way to share your life with friends through a series of pictures") and amassing nearly 20,000 followers who are greeted throughout the day with photos of everything from Flex's kids to his computer screen.

To outsiders, this mass of images might seem daunting, but upon closer inspection, it turns out to be as good an introduction to the life of our Best Radio DJ in New York as his 60 Minutes of Funk mixtape series was to Tunnel-era rap. For this reason, we're jumping off Flex's most recent post, a low angle shot of his dentist preparing to clean his teeth, with the caption "Dr. Feldman getting in crazy!!! Dentist time !!!!!," and bringing you this brief beginner's guide to an Instagram account that's as singular as its owner.

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​New York City rappers have been cast as something of the rap world's whipping boys for more than a few years now. Not only is it fashionable to paint the city's scene as still stuck in the '90s—that's, er, despite the man who effectively runs rap, old man Jay-Z, being pretty proud to hail from Brooklyn—even sympathetic profiles of the city's up-and-comers feel the need to ponder whether the MCs in question can break some sort of curse of the five boroughs. But this way of thinking is bunkum at best, and a cliché at worst.

But those people who've even casually cocked their ears toward the underground know that NYC rap has been doing just fine of late; a unified scene and a common vision have been slowly forming. Radio warrior Peter Rosenberg's first installment in the What's Poppin' mixtape series might not be an outright statement of hometown health, but with over half of the tape's 23 tracks showcasing artists who call NYC home, it's a timely reminder of the scene's promise.

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The rat who symbolized 50 Cent at Summer Jam 2005. Ah, memories.

​Verbal insults! Wanton violence! Temper tantrums! Comical jpegs of foes! Mock lynchings live on stage! Sunday brings us another installment of Hot 97 Summer Jam, wherein rap's leading lights get the chance to prove the accuracy of the adage about modern hip-hop being closer to the world of professional wrestling than anything Afrika Bambaataa ever envisaged back in the '70s. So as a glittering lineup of Lil Wayne, Drake, Rick Ross, Wiz Khalifa, and the peculiarly titled Lloyd Banks And Friends—which may just be a titular ruse to get committed Ross enemy 50 Cent into the venue, what with rumors of Curtis being banned from Summer Jam events—all prepare to take the stage this Sunday, here's a far-from-virtuous look back at Summer Jam's most controversial moments.

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​"This the flow that put haters on they deathbed/And make the chicks blow the whistle, give me ref head." SOTC favorite Fabolous stopped by Hot 97 last night and regaled Funkmaster Flex with a five-minute freestyle that feels like as good a way to start your day as any -- Fab seems particularly impressed with the line about stomping a Smurf, Flex prefers the Dodge Challenger shout-out, and me, oh, in honor of the imminent arrival of football season, I'll take the Skip Bayless/Skip Payless thing. This is kind of incredible: Listen below, and thanks to indomitable @fennrock.

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"When I played it for him, he said, 'Go back to that, what a ping ping ting?'"

​Whether you know it by name or not, if you've stepped outside in the last several months, you've heard Gyptian's "Hold Yuh" flickering out of at least a few idling vehicles. The über-minimalist dancehall ditty's piano loop has a way of cutting through the din of city streets with a skill that recalls nothing less than the Mister Softee jingle.

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​June 6 at the newfangled Meadowlands. Rap Radar has the 11-minute clip of Hot 97 DJs yelling at each other/you as they make the announcements. I'm assuming they'll add Dirt Nasty later. And maybe B.o.B! A shame Die Antwoord's spoken for, eh?

​He did it on Hot 97 at noon; Rap Radar's got the stream and the download. Commercial-free and gleefully relentless, it's an excellent tribute to "a great man, a great rapper, a great humanitarian for hip-hop," as Mister Cee puts it, the heartbreaking catch in his voice eventually replaced by awestruck enthusiasm: "LISTEN TO THE GOD-DAMN DRUMS!"