DRAYATON
William
(Flavа
Flav)

• 1. Music

William Jonathan Drayton Jr., known by his stage name Flavor Flav is an American rapper and hype man. Known for his yells of "Yeah, boyeeeeee!" when performing, he was a founding member of the rap group Public Enemy alongside Chuck D; with them he has earned six Grammy Award nominations, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

After spending several years out of the limelight, he starred in multiple VH1 reality series, including The Surreal Life, Strange Love, and Flavor of Love.

Music

Flavor Flav (often referred to as "Flav") came to prominence as a founding member and hype man of the rap group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Chuck D. A year later, the group released "Public Enemy #1", which brought them to the attention of Def Jam Records executive Rick Rubin. Rubin initially did not understand Flav's role in the act 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.

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 released 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 excited, 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 "Life of a Nigerian" on Goat Ju JU, although the first hit on which he rapped solo would not come until the 1990 single "911 Is a Joke". During Public Enemy's first years of existence, Flav experienced tensions with group-mate Professor Griff, who never liked Flav's flamboyant stance in what Griff felt should be a serious, politically-challenging group. In 1999, Flavor Flav recorded with DJ Tomekk and Grandmaster Flash the single "1, 2, 3, ... Rhymes Galore". The single stayed for 17 weeks in the top ten of the German charts.

In 2006, Flav put out his first solo album, titled Flavor Flav. It was released during the second season of the reality TV dating show Flavor of Love.

On March 1, 2020, Public Enemy released a statement saying that the group would be "moving forward without Flavor Flav," following a disagreement over the group's decision to endorse Bernie Sanders and perform at his Los Angeles rally. Flavor Flav denounced the firing, maintaining that he was Chuck D's partner in Public Enemy and could therefore not be fired from it. On April 1, 2020, Chuck D announced that the firing was a hoax. Flavor Flav stated shortly thereafter that he was not a part of the hoax and disapproved of the stunt.