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William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. (born March 16, 1959), better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper, television star, and member of the rap group Public Enemy. He is also known for popularizing the role of the hype man and for yelling "Yeah boy!" and "Flavor Flav!" during performances.

After falling out of the public eye for a number of years, he has recently reappeared as the star of several VH1 reality series, including The Surreal Life, Strange Love, and Flavor of Love.

Personal life

Flav grew up in Freeport, Long Island with parents William Sr. and Angie Drayton. His father owned a greasy spoon called the Soul Diner. Flav began playing the piano at age five; he claims to be self-taught. A musical prodigy, he sang in the youth choir at his church and mastered the piano, drums, and guitar at an early age. He eventually became proficient in 15 instruments. His childhood included legal trouble: He set a house on fire as a small child while playing with a lighter and, by the time he dropped out of school in the 11th grade, he had been in and out of jail for robbery and burglary.

He attended Adelphi University in Long Island where he met Carlton Ridenhour, who would become known as Chuck D. Flavor Flav took his stage name after his graffiti tag. They first collaborated on Chuck D's hip-hop college radio show, then began rapping together. The two worked for Chuck D's father's delivery service.

By the 1990s, Flav had become a drug addict. In 1991, he pled guilty to assaulting his then-girlfriend Karen Ross and he served 30 days in jail, lost custody of his children, and sank deeper into addiction. Two years later, he was charged with attempted murder and imprisoned for 90 days for shooting at his neighbor in 1993. He was later charged with domestic violence, cocaine and marijuana charges; his family performed an intervention and he checked into the Betty Ford Center for crack addiction.

After leaving the clinic, Flav began dating Angie Parker, with whom he has three more children. However, because of his previous erratic behavior, Public Enemy had temporarily stopped performing and, without anything else to do, he found himself back in addiction. After his father died of diabetes in 1997 he decided to re-enter rehabilitation, this time at the Long Island Center for Recovery. At one point, he broke both arms in a motorcycle crash. After leaving the clinic, he began dating Beverly Johnson, and by 2000, he lived in a small apartment in the Bronx with her and her two kids from a previous marriage while making extra cash scalping baseball tickets. In 2002, he spent nine weeks in Rikers Island prison for driving with a suspended license, numerous parking tickets and showing up late for his probation officer.

Following his release from prison, he broke up with Johnson and moved in with his mom on Long Island. Chuck D became concerned about his friend's well-being and, towards the end of 2003, suggested Flav move to Los Angeles. He moved into his friend Princess' apartment and within months met Cris Abrego and Mark Cronin, the creators and executive producers of The Surreal Life, who had tracked him down as soon as they heard he had moved to Los Angeles. Seeing that he had remained clean from his previous addictions, they wanted to cast him. Initially Flav refused, feeling the show was for celebrities past their fame. He was eventually convinced to join by previous participant MC Hammer.

Family

Flav has seven children. Their names are Shaniq, Karen, Designa, Kwan, William, Kayla, and Karma. He also has two grandchildren, Brianna and Matthew. Both grandchildren belong to his daughter Shaniq. Three of his children were with ex-girlfriend Karen Ross, three children were with Angie Parker. His latest child, a boy named Karma, was born in January 2007 to his fiancée Liz. Flav was also once married to a woman named Beverly.

Career

Music

Flavor Flav came to prominence as a founding member of the rap group Public Enemy. In 1984, the group released a track, "Public Enemy #1", which brought them to the attention of Def Jam Records executive Rick Rubin. Rubin initially did not understand Flav's clowning and wanted to sign Chuck D as a solo act; however Chuck D insisted that Flav be signed with them and the two were signed to Def Jam in 1986. The group's first album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, was released in 1987. Flav served as the comic foil to Chuck D's serious, politically charged style. The group gained much wider fame with their following release, 1988's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, which went double platinum. By the time the political single "Fight the Power" was issued in 1989, the group had become mainstream superstars. Along with Chuck D, the showman of the group and its promotional voice, Flav stood out among the members of Public Enemy as he often got the fans hyped, appearing on stage and in public wearing big hats and glasses and a large clock dangling from his neck.

The first released track on which Flav rapped solo was "Too Much Posse" on Yo! Bum Rush the Show, though the first hit on which he rapped solo would not come until the 1990s single "911 is a Joke". During Public Enemy's first years of existence, Flav dealt with tensions with group-mate Professor Griff, who never liked Flav's flamboyant stance in what Griff felt to be a serious, politically-challenging group. In 1990, after allegedly making anti-Semitic comments, Professor Griff left Public Enemy.

In 2006, Flav put out his self-titled first solo album. It was released during the second season of Flavor of Love.

Television

The Surreal Life

After a hiatus from the music scene, Flavor Flav was invited to participate on VH1 reality show The Surreal Life. During this show, he developed a relationship with Brigitte Nielsen.

Strange Love

Following the conclusion of The Surreal Life, VH1 gave Flav and Brigitte a show titled Strange Love, which detailed their globetrotting adventure in love. At the end of Strange Love Brigitte decided to return to her fiancé, Mattia Dessi.

Flavor of Love

Flavor of Love, which aired for three seasons, is a reality show where Flavor Flav looks for love. The show's success led to spin-offs titled I Love New York and I Love Money. It was revealed in the third season reunion show that Flav met a woman, not from the show, after taping had concluded. He proposed to her on air during the special. The two have a son together.

Comedy Central Roast

The Comedy Central roast of Flavor Flav aired on August 12, 2007. Guests appearing at the roast: Snoop Dogg, Brigitte Nielsen, Jimmy Kimmel, Carrot Top, Lisa Lampanelli, Ice T, Jeff Ross, Katt Williams, Patton Oswalt, Greg Giraldo, and Sommore.

Under One Roof (2008 TV series)

Flav played Calvester Hill on the MyNetworkTV comedy Under One Roof starring alongside Kelly Perine.

Other TV and media appearances

• On June 14, 2006, Flav's participation, with WEVR-MRC, in the Lisa Tolliver Show celebration of National Safety Month, earned kudos from Surgeon General of the United States Richard Carmona.
• Flav stars in Deon Taylor's horror anthology Nite Tales and the Horror Christmas Flick Dark Christmas.
• On May 10, 2010, Flavor Flav guest hosted WWE RAW.

Discography

With Public Enemy

• Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987)
• It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)
• Fight the Power...Live! (video and album, 1989)
• Fear of a Black Planet (1990)
• Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black (1991)
• Greatest Misses 1986-1992 (1992)
• Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age (1994)
• He Got Game (1998)
• BTN 2000 (online released mega-mix which initiated PE's leaving Def Jam Records) (1999)
• There's A Poison Goin On (1999)
• Revolverlution (2002)
• There's A Poison Goin On (worldwide re-release via Slamjamz.com) (2004)
• Son of a Bush (EP) (released before the 2004 Presidential Election); contained the songs "Son of a Gun", "Get Your Dump Together" and the song featuring Fine Arts Militia (featuring Chuck D) entitled "Twisted Sense of God"
• New Whirl Odor (2005)
• Rebirth of a Nation (featuring Paris, Guerrilla Funk Recordings) (2006)
• How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul? (2007)

Solo albums

• Flavor Flav (2006)

Guest appearances

• Anthrax, "Bring The Noise" (w/Chuck D)
• Barshem, "Where's My $5 At?"
• Chad Muska, "Flavor Man"
• Crime Mob, "I'll Beat Yo Azz"
• De La Soul, "Come On Down"
• DJ Hurricane, "Freeze The Frame" (w/Chuck D & Money Mark)
• DJ Tomekk, "1, 2, 3,...Rhymes Galore" (w/Grandmaster Flash, MC Ren & Afrob)
• George Clinton, "Paint The White House Black" (w/Chuck D, Ice Cube, MC Breed, Kam, Yo-Yo & Dr. Dre), "Tweakin" (w/Chuck D)
• Heavy D, "You Can't See What I Can See"
• Ice Cube, "I'm Only Out For One Thang"
• Living Colour, "Funny Vibe" (w/Chuck D)
• Material, "Burnin" (w/DXT)
• Moby, "MKLVFCKWR" (w/Chuck D)
• Nigo, "From New York To Tokyo"
• Paris, "Freedom (Remix)" (w/Chuck D & Dead Prez)
• Prince Akeem, "Only We Can Do This"
• Will Smith featuring Biz Markie and Slick Rick. "So Fresh" (Music Video)
• Snoop Dogg, "Bad Bitch"
• Various, "Self Destruction" (Public Enemy, Heavy D, Stetsasonic, MC Lyte, KRS-One, Kool Moe Dee, and others)
• Wu-Tang Clan, "Soul Power"
• P.Diddy, Music video for "P.E. 2000"
• Taking Back Sunday, Music video for "You're So Last Summer"

References

1. Ankeny, Jason. ""Flavor Flav: Biography"". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-03-05.
2. Un-J (October 4, 2006). "Chuck D. Interview". Youtube.com. Retrieved 2006-10-28.
3. ^ Marijke Rowland, (August 22, 2008). "Flavor Flav's Modesto block party". The Modesto Bee. Retrieved January 13, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
4. Hess, Mickey, 2007, Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 176.
5. ^ Johnny Davis, (June 18, 2006). "Hip-hop, you don't stop". The Guardian. Retrieved January 13, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
6. ^ Margeaux Watson, Flavor Flav: Totally Cuckoo?, Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on January 13, 2009
7. ^ Mike Hughes, (April 15, 2008). "Flavor Flav, sitcom-style". Gannett News Service. Retrieved January 13, 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
8. "Flavor Flav Bio and Photo Gallery". 4idols.com. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
9. "Flav, Flavor - Rapper and television star, Career, Sidelights, Selected discography, With Public Enemy, Solo". Encyclopedia.jrank.org. 1959-03-16. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
10. "Flavor Fav and newborn 7th kid in Hawaii".
11. "BLACKCELEBRITYKIDS- Black Celebrity Kids,babies,and their Parents » FLAVOR FLAV FIANCEE LIZ AND BABY KARMA TAKE IN A CONCERT IN VEGAS". Blackcelebkids.com. 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
12. "Profile on Flavor Flav". Famouslikeme.com. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
13. "Comedy Central Press Release - Roast of Flavor Flav".
14. "Westchester Emergency Volunteer Reserves-Medical Reserves Corps (WEVR-MRC)".
15. "National Safety Month". Nsc.org. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
16. "Blogcritics Magazine - Flavor Flav Celebrates National Safety Month".
17. "Lisa Tolliver show notes blog".
18. "Lisa Tolliver's Blog".
19. "Deon Taylor Poised to Spread Some Holiday Fear with Dark Christmas".
20. "TV Shows > Raw > Special Guest Hosts > Upcoming Raw guest hosts". WWE. 2010-03-28. Retrieved 2010-04-09.

External links

• Artist profile at VH1
• Flavor Flav at IMDb

• 1959 births
• Living people
• Adelphi University alumni
• African American rappers
• American burglars
• American people convicted of assault
• American robbers
• Channel 101
• People from Freeport, New York
• People from Nassau County, New York
• Public Enemy members
• Rappers from Long Island
• The Surreal Life participants