As Public Enemy says, when things get bad and the time comes to get them right, “brother’s gonna work it out.” And while Carlton Ridenhour, a.k.a “Chuck D,” and William Drayton Jr., a.k.a. “Flavor Flav,” have been tight since the 1980s, the brothers have some work to do. Namely, getting Public Enemy to reunite. But can they?
Public Enemy, interrupted
Public Enemy has not performed together since 2017. That same year, Flavor Flav sued media services company BTN Eastlink (BTNE), allegedly over albums sales, merch, and payments due. Chuck D was a co-owner of BTNE, which merged with Eastlink in 2007. So while Flav was after BTNE owner Gary “G-Wiz” Rinaldo of The Bomb Squad, Chuck D still got called out in the lawsuit. Quickly enough, things settled between Flav and Chuck, with the former claiming “we will fix it!”, and the latter tweeting “the lawsuit was a good move for him (Flav)”.
After this, things appeared to resolve nicely. Fans expected a reunion of some kind, but nothing materialized, even after Chuck D said he was ready to bury the hatchet.
Not “working it out”
However, according to Flavor Flav, this is all Chuck D’s fault. TMZ caught up with Flav at LAX yesterday, September 14, asking about a reunion. To hear Flav tell it:
“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 not the hold up with this Public Enemy project… I want everybody to know Chuck is the hold up and not Flavor Flav. Everybody, tell Chuck to sign the partnership!”]
The full video of Flav’s statement via TMZ below:
Chuck D, through his publicist, responded to Flav in kind:
Come on y’all, 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.
What do you think of the Public Enemy beef; will fans ever see a reunion? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @FMHipHop.
Garrett C. Owen
Twitter | Instagram
