Flavor Flav chats with Sean McPherson on The Current
May 02, 2016
Radio Free Current host Sean McPherson is accustomed to taking requests, but one request came in on Saturday, April 30, that Sean never expected: Could Flavor Flav join you on the radio?
Naturally, Sean said yes. "I am so thankful to have you here," Sean said to Flavor Flav, a member of the longtime, legendary hip-hop group Public Enemy. (In January, Sean had the opportunity to interview Flav's musical partner, Chuck D.)
Born William Jonathan Drayton, Jr., Flavor Flav, together with Chuck D, co-founded Public Enemy in 1982; to date, Public Enemy have released 13 studio albums, their most recent being 2015's Man Plans God Laughs. In addition to music, Flavor Flav is a trained chef, and he was in the Twin Cities pursuant to his restaurant business when he took part in a Prince remembrance gathering at Sabathani Community Center in Minneapolis (formerly Bryant Junior High, where Prince attended). Later that day, Flavor Flav visited The Current.
In his conversation with Sean, Flav reminisced about his interactions with jazz great Miles Davis. "The last time that I saw Miles Davis," Flav says, "I went over to his apartment across from Central Park in New York City, and Quincy Jones happened to be there. Miles was painting this giant collage, and on this collage were the names of all the people who meant something to him. My name was in the upper-left-hand corner. I was like, 'Wow, that's deep'."
Flav also describes how, when Public Enemy were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he donated his famous clock necklace to the Cleveland museum. Looking back on his work to date in Public Enemy, Flav shares some of his contributions to the music and to culture in general. ""What I did, I brought the streets onto records," Flav says. "Everybody in the world can relate to me because they've got to have a street life at some moment in their life, even if it's leaving their house and going to work … I never did anything fake or said anything fake on records."
And there's a much-loved slang term that owes itself to Flavor Flav. "I've brought out lingo to the streets," he says. "I'm the one that put 'G' on records, now everybody is like, 'Yo, G! What's up, G?' But I'm the first one to put 'G' on records."
A good portion of the conversation is dedicated to Flav's memories of Prince. "Losing Prince, this is not like losing a finger off your body; this is like losing a whole arm," he says.
"I just want to say that God gave me the pleasure to be able to have some moments with Prince when he was alive," Flav continues. "I remember the first time when Public Enemy first came out to Minneapolis, and the place wasn't all that big that we played in, but here we are playing onstage and somebody said, 'Yo, Prince is in the house!' And I looked over, man, and Prince was right there in the house. I was like, 'Wowwww, he came down to see Public Enemy!' So he came to two of our shows here in Minneapolis."
Listen to the complete conversation above to hear more from Flavor Flav, including his memories of being called onstage by Prince. "Being onstage with him is so electrifying," Flav says.
