Flavor Flav has reviewed the history of the clock necklace that has come to symbolize not only his but also Public Enemy’s brands.
In a recent interview on the SiriusXM program Have a Nice Day, Roxanne Shante, Flav told the tale of how a drug user on the streets of his neighborhood served as the model for his iconic neckpiece.
“So one day this crackhead came through my projects as a joke, you know, as a joke, you know what I’m saying? “Flavor Flav started selling these shower clocks that she had stolen from Fortunoff.
“Well, she took these large bags and large boxes of shower clocks from Fortunoff and sold them via our programs. So, Son of Berserk, you get what I’m saying, my boy? Everyone was laughing as he removed the stopwatch from my neck and replaced it with a clock. That and it was all a big joke.
So they dared me to wear that clock on stage, but only during the performance, he said. I wore the clock, Roxanne, when we went to open for the Beastie Boys in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1986, and the next day it was on the first page of Newsday, the New York Times, and the New York Post.
Flavor Flav has accompanied every costume with a different type of clock since the mid-1980s, when Public Enemy first formed. The National Museum of African American History & Culture even has a clock he wore on display.
