Steph Lova, whose real name is Stephanie Saunders, charges in a police report that Funkmaster Flex, aka Aston Taylor, 33, attacked her last week in front of the Hot 97 studios at 395 Hudson St. in Greenwich Village.

Saunders, who also is an MTV2 veejay, said she was talking with friends on the sidewalk just after midnight Thursday when Taylor emerged from the radio station and began verbally abusing her.

The 6-foot Saunders said the beefy Funkmaster then hit her, choked her and scratched her before she could run to her Jeep and flee, the police report says.

Steph Lova also charged that Funkmaster Flex threw a wad of cash at her as she drove away to pay for any damage he caused her.

"She's just really traumatized by the ordeal, and hurt by it," said Saunders' spokeswoman Getty Gizaw of G2Media. "This was a former colleague of hers, and he was actually someone she looked up to."

New station noticed

Saunders was a deejay for Hot 97 until she was wooed away this year by Power 105.The radio stations have been locked in a fierce battle for hip hop listeners, and Hot 97 has been feeling the heat from its upstart competitor, which went on the air in March.

Police said Saunders filed a police report Friday at the 6th Precinct in Greenwich Village, about 36 hours after the alleged attack.

"She wanted to advise her attorney first and get some advice from him," Gizaw said, adding that Saunders did not require medical attention.

Funkmaster Flex was charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault when he turned himself in at noon Sunday to officers at the 6th Precinct.

He was released on his own recognizance and ordered to appear in court next month.

"I'm just appalled to hear something like that," said Power 105 program director Michael Saunders, no relation to Steph Lova. "It kind of took me aback that a man could hit a woman like that."

"We all compete, but there's a line you just don't cross," said Andrew Rosen, regional vice president of Clear Channel, which owns Power 105.

Flex's spokeswoman Amanda Silverman said the deejay was not available for comment yesterday.

Representatives of Hot 97 and its parent company, Emmis Broadcasting, also could not be reached last night for comment.

Flex has been seething at Steph Lova ever since she conducted an interview in June with rap star Nas, who accused Flex on the air of taking payola.

Nas, aka Nasir Jones of Queens, made the accusations moments after storming out of Hot 97's Summer Jam concert when organizers refused to allow him to conduct a mock lynching of rival rapper Jay-Z.

Denies payola rumor

Funkmaster Flex, who also runs a record pool that helps select and recommend records for deejays around the world, has denied rumors that he takes payola.

Rosen said he would ask the management of Hot 97 to discipline their top deejay for attacking his weekend jock.

"I would hope they act in a professional manner," Rosen said.

It was not the first time violence has spilled out of the Hot 97 radio station and onto the street.

In March 2001, the entourages of rappers Capone-N-Noreaga and hip hop starlet Lil' Kim were involved in a shootout outside the radio station's offices that left one man wounded.