William Jonathan Drayton Jr. (born March 16, 1959), widely known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper, rap “hype man”, and television personality. He co-founded the rap group Public Enemy in 1985 with Chuck D, where he was known especially for his yells of “Yeah, boyeeeeee!”. After several years outside the public eye, he starred in several VH1 reality series, including The Surreal Life, Strange Love, and Flavor of Love.Drayton was born in Roosevelt, New York and grew up in nearby Freeport, two communities within the Town of Hempstead. He taught himself to play the piano and began playing at the age of 5. He sang in the youth choir at his church and mastered the piano, drums and guitar at an early age. According to Chuck D, Drayton is proficient in fifteen instruments. He set a house on fire as a small child while playing with a lighter. By the time he dropped out of Freeport High School in the 11th grade, he had been in and out of jail for robbery and burglary.Drayton attended culinary school in 1978. While attending Adelphi University on Long Island, he met Carlton Ridenhour (who later became known as Chuck D). They first collaborated on Chuck D’s hip-hop college radio show, then began rapping together. Drayton’s stage name Flavor Flav was originally his graffiti tag.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.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 actress Brigitte Nielsen. 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, 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 Flavor of Love show that Flav had met a woman, not from the show, after taping had concluded. He proposed to her on air during the special. The two had a son together. The Comedy Central roast of Flavor Flav aired on August 12, 2007. Guests appearing at the roast included: Snoop Dogg, Brigitte Nielsen, Jimmy Kimmel, Carrot Top, Lisa Lampanelli, Ice-T, Jeff Ross, Katt Williams, Patton Oswalt, Greg Giraldo, and Sommore.Flav played Calvester Hill on the MyNetworkTV comedy series Under One Roof, starring alongside Kelly Perine.Flavor flav dated Beverly Johnson, and by 2000, he lived in a small apartment in the Bronx with her and her two children from a previous marriage, while making money scalping baseball tickets. Following his release from jail, Flav broke up with Johnson and moved in with his mother on Long Island.Chuck D became concerned about his friend’s well-being and, toward the end of 2003, suggested Flav move to Los Angeles. Flav moved into his friend Princess’ apartment, and within months met Cris Abrego and Mark Cronin, the creators and executive producers of the reality television series The Surreal Life.The pair sought him out as soon as they heard Flav had moved to Los Angeles. Seeing that he had remained free from his previous addictions, they wanted to cast him. Initially Flav refused, feeling the show was for celebrities past their prime. He was eventually convinced to join by previous participant MC Hammer.Flavor Flav has a penchant for speaking about himself in the third person.Flav had his first three children with Karen Ross and three more with Angie Parker. On July 21, 2019 Flav had his youngest son Jordan, with Kate Gammell. As of October 2012, Elizabeth Trujillo, the mother of Flav’s son, Karma, lived with Flav in Las Vegas and had been his fiancée for eight years. Flav’s mother, Anna Drayton, died on December 31, 2013. Flav is the cousin of former Penn State basketball player Shep Garner., and of the Brooklyn Emcee, Timbo King of Royal Fam. He is a cousin of rappers Ol’ Dirty Bastard, RZA and GZA, from the Wu-Tang Clan.
Written by Dianne Washington