You think you know him, but you don't.

To Coon or not to Coon?: The Tale of Flav

My mother and I were watching a commercial and Flavor Flav came on.  Almost instantly she started shaking her head in disgust. “He makes us all look bad.”  Here was this grown black man standing on national television with a Viking hat, colorful suit and a clock the size of dinner plate hanging from his neck.  Everytime you see him he’s screaming and yelling something nonsensical. He headlined a show called “Flavor of Love” where 20 women, acted like complete fools while competing for Flav’s love. While we’re trying to teach our young black kids that they can be successful, here is this black man making a fool of himself in front of this mostly white audience. My mom definitely had a reason to shake her head.  But she was wrong…

And you are too if you think Flavor Flav is a coon.  It’s not some act or a play for the camera.  It’s who he really is and always has been.  Way before you saw him on VH1, Flav was the hype man for Public Enemy, one of the greatest, socially conscious music groups of all time.  The “yeaaahhh booyyyee” that bothers you so much, was also in the song “911 is a Joke” where Flav criticized the police for the mistreatment of minorities.  And that suit was also in the “Fight the Power” video where he encouraged black people to rise up.  And the clock?  Yep, he wore it then too and that it has meaning.  It stands for “knowing what time it is” or in 1990-terms, being aware of your place in society and taking charge.

Then like most people who’ve tasted fame, he succumbed to a drug addiction and fell on extremely hard times.  With no formal education and long past the heights of Public Enemy’s success, Flav had no way to support himself or his kids.  Then one day VH1 decided cast Flav on their “Where are they now?” themed reality show for celebrities who fell out of the limelight.  Is he wrong for accepting a check to go on a reality show?  Is it his fault that the audience was drawn to him like a magnet?  Is he wrong for turning down the opportunities that the "Surreal Life" led to?

Flav rode that wave into 4 reality shows, 1 sitcom and several commercial endorsements.  He’s managed to use his boisterous behavior to create an opportunity to provide for his family.  But he should have stayed broke because he was making you look bad right?  He should have taken the “higher” road and thought about black people as an entire race?  People like Carrot Top can act as crazy as they want without any pressure from white people, but Flav should have traded his gold teeth for an unemployment check.  I’m sure you were willing to help him out and send his family money…  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Did you know that Flavor Flav is also a musical prodigy who taught himself how to play a dozen instruments?  But that little fact isn’t paying the bills.  The Viking hat does. Its really easy to judge someone when you don’t have to walk in their shoes but if you were in his place, what would you have done?

I hope you know what time it is.