These days, Funkmaster Flex looks out from behind the turntables and weeps -- he has

no mix tapes left to mold into his own.

At least, that's how he made it seem last week, when asked why, exactly, The Mix

Tape Volume III: 60 Minutes of Funk -- The Final Chapter would be his last entry in

the popular 60 Minutes of Funk series.

The collection of mostly original songs by chart-topping rappers and R&B artists, mixed

by the renowned hip-hop DJ into a continuous flow, has reached its saturation point

creatively, the popular and influential hip-hop DJ said.

"I think that I don't want to exhaust it," the 30-year-old Funkmaster Flex (born Aston

Taylor) said from the offices of Big Dawg, his production company. "I want to go out

successfully, and I kind-of want to grow and do something else."

According to Kirby Castro, an assistant manager at the Harlem Music Hut in New York

City, Flex's 60 Minutes of Funk series has popularized mix tapes -- which

historically have been sold and traded in underground circles -- to the point where more

and more DJs are putting them out on a nationally distributed, mainstream level.

"Funkmaster Flex legitimized them," he explained. "But cats are still putting them out in

the underground."

Both Castro and Flex said that mix tapes remain an important means for hip-hop artists to

get their music out between albums.

"Mix tapes keep an artist cutting-edge and keeps 'em fresh," Flex explained. "It gives

them a way to express themselves in a way that they might not want to on their album.

Instead of a whole song, for example, they can do a short verse and express how they

feel about something."

While the 60 Minutes of Funk series may be facing retirement, Funkmaster Flex

isn't planning on disappearing from the mix-tape scene all together. He's currently

working on a venture entitled the Big Dawg Pit Bulls, a mix-tape project that will include

work by Flex and fellow wax spinners Kid Capri, DJ Clue, Big Cap, Cipha Sounds and

DJ Kaori. "It'll be a mix-tape collaboration of DJs," Flex said of the project. "It'll be more of

a party DJ thing -- we're going to be the nightclub kings."

One of hip-hop's most influential DJs, Flex spins the platters that matter 27 hours per

week on New York's Hot 97 (WQHT-FM), as well as at clubs and celebrity parties. The

first installment of his 60 Minutes of Funk series, a continuous mix comprised

primarily of previously released songs by such artists as A Tribe Called Quest,

Run-D.M.C. and the Wu-Tang Clan, was released in 1995. Flex said he was inspired to

release the first volume after being disappointed by the quality of the tapes of his radio

shows that were making the rounds in tape-trading circles.

Following the success of the first album, he was able to line up a number of artists --

including Xzibit, Jay-Z and Lil' Kim -- to contribute freestyle raps to the second edition,

which quickly went gold when it was released last year.

Still, Flex said he thought Volume II was "more commercial, less street and a little

bit rushed ... When I began working on Volume II, I wanted to give [listeners] all

aspects of my show and do it a little bit more street."

"[For Volume III], I wanted to concentrate on having artists as big as the names on

Volume II, but reeling them in a little and making them more street," Flex

continued. "You know, making Mariah Carey street, or Erykah Badu."

The results sent the album to #4 on the Billboard 200 albums chart after its

release three weeks ago, powered by the single

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Khadejia_featuring_Product/Here_We_Go.ram">

"Here We Go" (RealAudio excerpt), from Khadejia and Product.

Now that he has released his Final Chapter, Flex won't just quietly return to his

radio show and nightclub gigs. In addition to the Big Dawg Pit Bulls project, he has his

Big Dawg production company. It includes an indie label called Franchise Records, a DJ

record pool and a movie division that is producing "Belly," the first feature film from famed

hip-hop video director Hype Williams.

With so much on his plate, Flex said people shouldn't be surprised that he's ending the

60 Minutes of Funk series. "I think I've done some good work," Flex concluded.

"And I want to come out with something new."