Before Public Enemy became an essential rap group in the early '80s, William
Drayton was Carlton Ridenhour's - a.k.a. Chuck-D's - sidekick on an FM radio
show at New Jersey's Adelphi University. Around 1985, on the first Public Enemy
tapes, William Drayton became Flavor Flav, the hysterical screaming joker who
would punctuate every album by the "Black Panthers of rap", to use the moniker
that best defines this major rapological combo. Flavor's look is that of a
jester of the hip-hop era: baroque dark glasses, a cap or top hat, and above all
a huge alarm clock around his neck. He ...