Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Flavor Flav have a history that stretches back to the 1980s. Like a family, they’ve weathered good times and bad but always seem to keep their friendship intact. However, the pioneering Hip Hop titans haven’t performed as a group for years since Flavor sued Chuck D and BTN Eastlink in 2017.
But according to Flavor Flav, he says it’s all on Chuck. TMZ caught up with the former Flavor of Love star at the Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday (September 14) and asked about a potential Public Enemy reunion.
Flavor Flav replied, “There’s some things that Chuck D needs to work out with me. Once he comes up to the table and signs this partnership agreement, then we can work. If he doesn’t sign this partnership agreement, then we ain’t working. That’s my boy and that’s my family, but business-wise we ain’t seein’ eye-to-eye. I’m trying to get Chuck to come see eye-to-eye with me. I’m not the hold up with this Public Enemy project.
“I’m not the hold up. Chuck D is the hold up, and I want everybody to know Chuck is the hold up and not Flavor Flav. Everybody, tell Chuck to sign the partnership!”
But Chuck D begs to differ. He cites a pattern of laziness and unwillingness to work as the reason behind their hiatus. But at the same time, he maintains they will always be brothers.
“Come on y’all,” he tells HipHopDX. ‘This is tired and stupid. Flav and I communicate on our own, so I normally don’t address these things in public. But I’m tired of the circus of airing news that ain’t news and am going to keep it factual here. Flav sues the folks he works with, so in 2017 he decided it was my turn. He lost when the judge dismissed the suit with prejudice in 2020, which means it’s permanent. Over. He can’t file again. He lost.”
“Even after all of this, even after all the years of Flav giving the situation minimum while always asking for the maximum, I still work with him. But it’s time to change. Everybody in the situation can’t be burdened with picking up his slack. The key word in ‘Brothers Gonna Work It Out’ is the word ‘work.’ We’re always gonna be brothers regardless, but Flav’s gotta do the work and there ain’t no getting down without the work. Simple as that.”
While Chuck D’s name was mentioned in the 2017 suit, it was his former business partner Gary “G-Wiz” Rinaldo of The Bomb Squad he was really after. Chuck’s name was only tied to it because of a merger between his company Bring The Noise and BTNE that took place in 2007.
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“Flavor isn’t 100 percent wrong,” Chuck told DX about the lawsuit at the time. “But he brings a lot of craziness and disorganization to the fucking table, and that causes a myriad of issues that costs time and money. His inability to be focused, pay attention and stay woke bleeds into other areas.”
Four years later, it doesn’t sound like much has changed in that arena but as Chuck said, “Brothers Gonna Work It Out.”
Crack is a hell of a drug. It would be nice to see these guys link up with Terminator X and do a tour. I’d go. Get someone dope from that era to co headline. BDK. Rakim. Shit… Masta Ace? Slick Rick?
For someone who supposed to be so disorganized and cracked out Flav seems to be able to keep his house and car payments on point. Chuck is always claiming to not have any ego but I’m not sure about that. He wants to make Public Enemy just his thing. It may have started out that way but once they hit Def Jam it was a full group and Flav was a huge star in that group -not a mascot like Chuck wants to pretend. Not saying Flav is easy to deal with but Chuck should just go solo if he can’t deal with partners.
Man this is Hip Hop in the year 2021, one group member telling the more popular and famous one that he needs to work harder is ridiculous. Just accepting each other for who we/they/you/me are is all we can do in this lifetime. Spending all that energy beefing over personality differences is crazy because we all grew up in different environments, set of parents, economic situations, etc. If dude wants to party and not going to because another man says it’s not cool is the problem we don’t all need to be the standard for everyone else trying to filter how the fuck they get down and give some opinion when that’s all people do. Just break bread and go get some head.
Do you seriously think Flav is more popular that Chuck? From a hip hop perspective Flav has very limited skills.
He called 911 a long time ago…
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