William Jonathan Drayton, Jr., better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, appeared in a Mineola, New York courtroom Tuesday, where a judge postponed a criminal speeding case against the rapper, after he was pulled over on a Long Island parkway as he was en route to his mother’s funeral in January.
Flav, 54, plead not guilty to a felony charge of aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle, a speeding violation and marijuana possession. While removing his signature clock chain to pass through courthouse metal detectors, the reality television star told reporters he’s, “Just trying to get this over with as fast as possible so I can get back to my life in Vegas.”
Flavor rose to fame as a member of the mainstream hip-hop group Public Enemy. He is also known for making the role of the “hype man” popular, by yelling “Yeah boy!” and “Flavor Flav!” during performances. When Rick Rubin initially signed Public Enemy in 1984, he didn’t fully understand Flavor Flav’s role in the group, and wanted to sign Chuck D as a solo act. Chuck D wasn’t having this, and Flav remained on as his comic foil, offsetting Chuck D’s more serious and political charged themes with relative silliness.
Flavor Flav displays his skills as a hype man in Public Enemy’s “Can’t Truss It” from 1991:
Flav had 16 license suspensions at the time he was pulled over on January 9th, while doing 79 in a 55 mph speed zone on the Meadowbrook State Parkway. Concerning the 16 license suspensions, Drayton’s lawyer, Indji Bessim, commented, “We’re still conferencing the matter,” and added that she had “no idea” if Flav would change his present plea.
Drayton, who will be back in Nassau County Court in Mineola on May 16, commented, “Hopefully, by my next court date, we can get this thing resolved,” while complaining of the price of plane tickets from Las Vegas to New York.
Image via Wikimedia Commons