Flavor Flav knows how to put on a performance — but it’s safe to say basketball fans didn’t expect to see the rapper and reality-TV star singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at an NBA game.
The Milwaukee Bucks invited the Public Enemy co-founder to sing the national anthem at Sunday night’s game against the Atlanta Hawks. Sporting his signature oversized, blinged-out clock chain and a No. 59 (a nod to the year he was born) Bucks jersey, the 64-year-old artist gave a now-viral performance garnering mixed reactions.
But Flav, 64, isn’t concerned with the naysayers, exclusively telling Yahoo Entertainment that performing the iconic tune has long been a dream.
“I consider this one thing that I knocked off of my bucket list,” he says. “Once it was said and done, I said to myself, ‘You finally did something that you always wanted to do and you did a great job. You accomplished it.’”
Flav, whose real name is William Jonathan Drayton Jr., adds, laughing, “I was proud of myself because I didn’t get none of the words wrong, sang every word right.”
‘Can I sing the national anthem one day at the game?’
Fans expect to see singers, known or unknown, belting out the anthem before sporting events, but witnessing such an iconoclastic rapper take on the task was a bit of a shock for many. Some wondered how Flav got the gig in the first place.
“I got with the president of the Milwaukee Bucks, Peter Feigin, and I asked him, ‘Can I sing the national anthem one day at the game?’” Flav explains. “He said, ‘Send me a video of you doing it.’ I sent him a video of me doing it. They liked it. And they gave me the invitation and the opportunity. So I jumped on it, man. I jumped on it and knocked it out the box. And it was fun. It was great. I had a good time.”
Flav says he took his time singing the song, and game-goers cheered him on throughout the performance, especially during the anthem’s vocally big moments.
‘I was a little nervous for a second’
Flav has been rocking stages since the ’80s and has famously appeared on multiple reality shows, serving as a pioneer in the TV dating space with his hit show Flavor of Love. But undertaking the anthem was a unique experience — and something he knew could go very wrong if he botched it à la the infamous Roseanne Barr rendition.
“I prepared myself mentally really, that was the mental part that I have prepared myself for, even though I did my voice warm ups and all of that stuff. There’s a lot of people that sing the national anthem,” he says, “and usually a lot of people put their own twist to it. So I said, by me doing this for my first time, I’m gonna put my own twist to it and that’s what I did. I put my own twist to it and it was great.”
Althought Flav had some jitters, he made sure he went in with the right mindset.
“I was a little nervous for a second but I said, ‘I’m going to nail this. I’m going to knock this thing.’ … and that’s what I did. That’s what I set out to do and I accomplished it. God is good, man.”
‘Everybody’s gonna talk. Everybody’s gonna have something to say.’
While there have been plenty of notable celebrity national anthem performances, two that basketball fans have brought up following Flav’s original take were Marvin Gaye’s at the 1983 NBA All-Star game, lauded for its chilling and sultry vibe, and, on the flip side, Fergie’s breathy version at the NBA All-Star game in 2018, which was widely panned.
“I’ve seen a lot of the reactions and stuff. I’ve been seeing a lot of positive reactions, I’ve been seeing a lot of negative reactions. And all of the negative reactions are not outweighing the positive ones, which is a plus for me,” Flav says.
“And not only that, but to all of the negative reactions, I don’t let nothing stop my flow. Everybody’s gonna talk. Everybody’s gonna have something to say. But, I’m never letting anything that anyone has to say stop my flow of being positive.”
‘This ain’t the last time’
Fans and critics alike can now watch Flav’s viral performance online, but some might even get a chance to him perform it in person.
“This ain’t the last time you’re going to hear me sing the national anthem. I’m gonna do it again somewhere else,” he teases. “I just don’t where yet and I don’t know when, but it’s gonna go down. So keep your eyes and your ears open.”
Flav also has some advice for all the dreamers.
“As long as you keep trying, somewhere along the line you will be guaranteed to succeed. But if you give up trying, then it’s definitely going to be a guaranteed failure,” he says. “I kept trying and trying until finally, I succeeded, and it worked. So to everybody that have dreams, all they have to do is just keep following their dreams and listen to their gut, and I guarantee you all of that will have them ending up in the spot that they always wanted to be in.”
‘My heart and my gratitude goes out to all of the people that’s been loving Public Enemy for all of these years’
Aside of his memorable performance on the court, he’s looking forward to celebrating another milestone. Public Enemy announced a new vinyl reissue of the group’s 1988 sophomore LP, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, honoring the album’s 35th anniversary. It coincides with this year being the 50th anniversary of hip-hop.
“It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was always one of my favorite creations that we did as Public Enemy, you know, and I’m just honored that right now that album is still carrying around a lot of weight. But it couldn’t have happened without all the people that support us,” says Flav.
“All of our fans and our diehard fans, those are the ones that really kept this album alive these whole 35 years. So, my heart and my gratitude goes out to all of the people that’s been loving Public Enemy for all of these years and been riding with us all of these years.”
He and Chuck D are expected to be together on Friday for this year’s Rock and Rock Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
