As the founder of the band Public Enemy, Flavor Flav makes enough money to stock up on drugs. A million went on his crack consumption, he reveals. Today the rapper and reality TV star is clean and sees himself as God’s “mouthpiece”.
Flavor Flav spent over $2,000 a day on drugs at one point. The 63-year-old rapper admitted this on the podcast “Off the Record with DJ Akademiks”. “There was a time when I was spending between $2,400 and $2,600 a day,” he said. That went on for about six years. At his worst, he spent a million dollars on crack. He didn’t have any money worries during this time, after all he earned well with his music. He also dealt drugs, but according to his own statements, he was his best customer.
William Jonathan Drayton Jr., as the rapper’s real name is, has always managed to keep up appearances. In between, he checked into rehab again and again, but always fell back into old patterns. It wasn’t until 2020 that he finally managed to get clean. Now he wants to stop other people from making the same mistakes he did. “I believe God wanted me to live. And He knows that I am a mouthpiece for the world,” he said on the podcast.
Flavor Flav co-founded the influential hip-hop band Public Enemy with Chuck D in 1982. In addition to the political and socially critical Chuck D, he was responsible for the mood at concerts as a fan heater. With his big watches hanging around his neck, Flavor Flav has become one of rap’s most colorful figures.
During a hiatus with Public Enemy, which he left for good in 2020, Flavor Flav slipped into his second career: he became a reality TV star. In 2003 he took part in the third season of “The Surreal Life”. In the show, celebrities spend time together in a villa.
There Flavor Flav met Brigitte Nielsen. He and the Swedish actress became a couple. The show “Strange Love” then documented the turbulent affair. After the relationship fell apart, the rapper looked for a partner on the Bachelor-like show Flavor of Live.
