Before Public Enemy became an essential rap group in the early '80s, William Drayton was Carlton Ridenhour's - a.k.a. Chuck-D's - sidekick on an FM radio show at New Jersey's Adelphi University. Around 1985, on the first Public Enemy tapes, William Drayton became Flavor Flav, the hysterical screaming joker who would punctuate every album by the "Black Panthers of rap", to use the moniker that best defines this major rapological combo. Flavor's look is that of a jester of the hip-hop era: baroque dark glasses, a cap or top hat, and above all a huge alarm clock around his neck. He was the featured rapper on the track "911 Is A Joke" (on P.E.'s 1990 album Fear Of A Black Planet) and in 1991 announced his solo album, Lifestyle Of The Rich And Flav, still unreleased in 1996. Flavor had numerous run-ins with the law, including violence and possession of crack cocaine. Like a true rock star, Flav went to detox at the famous Betty Ford Clinic. The failure of Public Enemy's sixth album, Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age, in 1994, rekindled speculation that the band would split up, leaving Flavor Flav with the option of pursuing a solo career rather than just a sidekick. After all, the joker is also a musician, capable of playing fourteen instruments. O. C.