Credit: Angela R

1980s hip-hop was a ever-changing and ever-adapting movement that navigated it’s way from the streets of New York into the mainstream with ingenuity. The decade saw breakaway subgenres rise across the country and before long the establishment couldn’t ignore the popularity of hip-hop and Flavor Flav was a part of this.

Following the release of Grandmaster Flash’s ‘The Message’ in 1982, anti-establishment, politically-charged hip-hop began to take over the airwaves, especially in New York and with figures like KRS-One seen as pioneers of the movement, one of the most influential groups of the era was Public Enemy.

With Chuck D at the forefront, one of the most recognisable members of the collective was Flavor Flav. As a hypeman, entertainer and rapper, Flavor Flav with his unique style and fun-nature encouraged young people to join Public Enemy in their mission to uplift and empower Black Americans.

Flavor Flav has had a tumultuous since the groups heyday. At one point in time it was announced that he had been kicked out of the group. In the 2000s he then hit our screens in his own reality TV show The Flavor Of Love and more recently he has unveiled that throughout his life he has had issues with drugs.

However, irrespective of his personal issues, nobody can deny his impact or erase his name from the hip-hop history books and he remains a well-known figure. One of his accessories in particular defined him as an artist for years and that is was his clock chain.

In an interview with the iconic emcee Roxanne Shante on her SiriusXM show Have a Nice Day, Flav strangely explained how a drug addict inspired his signature clock chain. Recalling when he first came up with the idea, the entertainer (real name Williams Drayton) told Shante, “So one day, as a joke, as a joke, you know, this crackhead came through my projects, you know what I’m saying? Selling these shower clocks that she stole from a place called Fortunoff.”

He added, “Well, she went to Fortunoff, stole this big box of shower clocks came through our projects selling them. So my boy, Son of Berserk… He took the stopwatch off my neck and put the clock around my neck and everybody was laughing. It was a big joke and all of that.”

Drayton admitted he was dared to wear it when Public Enemy opened for the Beastie Boys in 1986, and following their electric performance, he ended up on the cover of Newsday, the New York Times and the New York Post.

Drayton’s interview with Shante wasn’t the first time he revealed the clock chain’s origin. In a 2019 interview with DJ Vlad for Vlad TV, the lyricist told the DJ, “They dared me to wear this clock,” he said. “Back in them days, if you dared Flavor Flav to do something, I would do it.”

He stated that early on, it was a group-wide accessory, telling Vlad, “This was part of our wardrobe,” he added. “One day, Chuck D, he took his clock off. Hank Shocklee [of the Bomb Squad] was like, ‘Flavor Flav, you need to take that clock off, man. It’s gettin’ old. It’s out of date.’” However, he continued to wear it.