Flavor Flav: From Public Enemy to Flavor of Love

You know him as Flavor Flav, Public Enemy's flamboyant rapper, but his real name is William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. He was born on March 16, 1059 in Roosevelt New York. To his credit, Flav is a classically trained pianist and attended Adelphi University in Long Island, NY. MC DJ Flavor, as he was known back then, met up with a graphic design student named Carlton Riddenhour (who later would be known to the world as Chuck D).

Chuck D formed the politically-conscious rap group Public Enemy in 1982, and in 1987, released the debut LP Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Flav's absurdity launched the role of the rap sidekick. He even started the fashion craze of the 'blinged out' grill, as Flav sports gold, never platinum, teeth. He performed vocals in his trademark stuttering style, and would later influence such rappers as Busta Rhymes and Ol' D.B. (Dirty Bastard).

During Public Enemy's reign as Hip-Hop supreme, Flav's antics and silliness complimented the stern authoritarian role of Chuck D, who was always dressed in solemn, dark colors. Flav is rarely caught without the trademark clock around his neck, so folks will "know what time it is," and he also sports some funky sunglasses. He's usually clad in something flashy and ridiculously bright, not to mention he could possibly also be seen sporting a metal-horned helmet on his head. Another 'trademark' if you will, of Flav is his epileptic, jerky style dancing - just picture the music video "911 is a Joke." Flav knows he's a little on the strange side, but embraces his uniqueness.

The cartoon-like rapper has had numerous encounters with law enforcement authorities. During Public Enemy's spotlight years, Flav was a heavy crack user, and has even had his driver's license suspended at least 43 times. Proudly enough, Flav has remained clean since 2004.

After Public Enemy died down, Flav still pushed his career forward. Dej Jam reportedly rejected two solo albums by Flavor, and a third LP, It's About Time, was supposed to be released on Lightyear in 1999, but never surfaced.

So, in 2004, Flav turned his attention to TV and appeared in the third season of The Surreal Life on VH1. During this series, he had an on-screen relationship with Brigitte Nielsen, best known for her role as the wife of Rocky Balboa's enemy, Ivan Drago, who was played by Dolph Ludgren, in Rocky IV. Brigitte continued her weird affair with "Fuffy Fuffy" on VH1's reality show Strange Love. Ghetto-flash meets Euro-trash.

In May 2005 Flav appeared on yet another reality show, The Farm on UK's channel five (TV). The reality show features celebrity farmhands who had to face the not-so-pleasant realities of farm life with real farmers Jon Huxley, Ryan Hooper and his brother, Jason as their guides. The farmhands muddled through the day-to-day routine of mucking out and feeding the animals, but also had to compete in order to win treats, and eventually got eliminated one-by-one.

In January 2006, Flavor again got his own reality show, Flavor of Love. In it, our comedic rapper is the object of desire of 20 women from all walks of life, all professing some sort of 'love' for Flav. A good ride and some real down and dirty fun, but in truth the "romantical" experiment" didn't work. Now, since August 2006, Flav is currently back in Flavor of Love 2, since the first show's winner, Hoopz, ditched Flav for some new-found publicity. He's down to two women vying for his attention: New York (a repeat from Season 1) and Deelishis.

When he's not frolicking around his Los Angeles mansion in Flavor of Love, Flavor Flav actually resides in New York. He has six children and two baby mammas.

After such a flamboyant and diverse career, one can only wonder what Flavor Flav has up his sleeve for the future. But in the here and now, don't forget to tune in to Flavor of Love 2's episode 10: Belize in Love, this Sunday, October 15th on VH-1 at 10:00pm ET! Flavor FLAAAAV!!!