Farley Flex

Farley Flex:
From Tamarind Seeds to Urban Music’s Special Achiever
By Ryan B. Patrick
Pride Entertainment Writer
Nov 23, 2005

While he is probably best known to the public at large as “the Black judge” on TV’s “Canadian Idol”, Farley Flex has been known within the African Canadian community, as a guiding force for the Canadian urban music industry, for over 20 years.

Flex gets his due props next week, on November 28, at the 2005 Canadian Urban Music Awards, where he’ll receive a Special Achievement Award for his work in the music industry. Even though Flex considers the award to a great honour, he says he’s never been one to sit back and reflect on all his life accomplishments.

“I just keep moving. Success is in the eye of the beholder,” Flex tells Pride News Magazine. “The only time I really look back is when I do motivational speaking, so I have to, as it helps to include that content to motivate people.
“For the most part, I’m looking at the next chapter. I’ve always got goals beyond the ones I attain, so I try to keep my eyes on that prize.”


It was as a young kid selling tamarind seeds to his wide-eyed public school peers that Flex first recognized his own entrepreneurial spirit. Of Trinidadian descent, Farley “Flex” Fridal was born in England and raised in the Malvern part of Scarborough. He used to spend his Christmas holidays in Trinidad and, every year, he would bring back tamarind balls and would sell the seeds to kids at school as “precious stones” from the islands.

“I remember I was eating them at recess and someone was enthralled by the seed,” Flex says. “I started selling from there.”

From there, Flex “officially” started in business as a concert promoter at the age of 15; in his teens is when he really started demonstrating his business acumen. He started holding parties and rollerskating jams, often earning thousands in one night.
“I’m big on knowing who you are and knowing what your skill sets are. It’s about knowing what’s in your toolbox and building on that,” Flex says. “My thing was, I was a very social individual. I played a lot of sports, which allowed me to meet a lot of people. This fueled my confidence that if I had a party that people would come.”
He then segued into becoming an artist manager, handling the career of Canada’s most successful solo rap artist, Maestro Fresh Wes.

Way back then, Flex realized that Wes had the talent and charisma to make it big. The fact that the Canadian music industry didn’t have the infrastructure in place to support an African Canadian hip hop artist didn’t deter him in the least.

“I’m a very ‘cup is half full’ kind of guy,” Flex says. “The fact that no one had really done it before was motivation for me. We knew going in that there was no one out there doing this; I was very confident of Wes’s talent and what he represented in the grand scheme of hip hop.”
There was no blueprint for what Flex and Maestro were doing, but they made a go of it.
The moment they heard the beat for the groundbreaking hit, “Let Your Backbone Slide”, Flex says he knew they had something special. “There was an aura in the room. It was an amazing phase of existence,” Flex recalls.

They financed the video themselves, and soon recognized the importance for national exposure. They managed to book themselves on City-TV’s dance show, “Electric Circus”, which ultimately led to Wes’s record deal.

They then embarked on a cross-Canada tour, which saw them travel to places where the locals had never seen Black people before.

“We were adventurers and mavericks at the time. There’s no other word for it. The foundation we built was really strong relative to the time; there was no

infrastructure for Black music at the time,” Flex says. “It was a really invigorating to travel the country and educate people about the music.”

Flex was also extremely instrumental in submitting the CRTC applications that resulted in the first Black-owned and operated radio station in Canadian history, with Toronto’s FLOW 93.5 FM.

Flex was charged with educating the CRTC board and convincing them what the music represented and about its commercial viability. “I’m big on representing my community in any way I can; FLOW was a big opportunity to do that,” Flex says.
He also played a role in getting urban radio stations such as Vibe in Calgary and the CHUM/Milestone (FLOW) urban radio station in Edmonton off the ground.
“Toronto’s hip hop & R&B” radio station was launched in February 2001 with Flex as its first music director. And the early days weren’t easy, but they were well worth it, Flex notes.

While the station has its critics, Flex notes that FLOW doesn’t get enough credit for its community work.
“FLOW has both a social and economic imperative,” Flex says. “And FLOW does a ton of stuff in the community that people don’t know about.”
Just recently, the station was honoured by the Ontario Association of Broadcasters with the Community Service Award for its Peace Prophets anti-violence campaign.
“It’s wonderful for me that FLOW will stick around,” Flex adds.
His current role as a judge for “Canadian Idol” has expanded his national profile and made him a household name.

“The show’s been great,” the Canadian urban music pioneer says. He regularly makes public-speaking appearances and is committed to working with youth.
“When you work with young people, you’re fueling the game,” Flex says.

He currently acts as a board member of VideoFACT, which is charged with funding the production of music videos for independent Canadian artists. He also operates Plasma Corporation, where he develops and promotes new talent. Currently in his roster are In Essence, Toya Alexis and Belinda Brady, and “Canadian Idol” runner-up Gary Beals.
He is also developing projects for film and television.
Life, for Farley Flex, is good.

In fact, one could recall every single milestone made by the urban music industry in Canada, and Flex was probably a part of it. He has likely spent his whole career discovering, promoting and developing new Canadian talent.
“We, as a people, need to be confident in our culture,” Flex says. “I wake up on Monday morning feeling how most feel on Friday afternoon.
“That’s how I live my life.”