Flavor Flav Knows What Time It Is

11/26/1999 7:00 AM, Yahoo! Music
Craig Rosen

(11/26/99, 7 a.m. ET) - Flavor Flav fans may have given up hope for a solo album from the Public Enemy hype man years ago, but now hip-hop's animated precursor to ODB is set to release It's About Time, his first solo album, on Jan. 18.

Flav should have released an album eight years ago. He blames his former record label, Def Jam Records for the delay. "Russell [Simmons] and Lyor [Cohen] held me back for a long time," Flav told LAUNCH. "Now that I'm finally off of Def Jam, I hooked up with Mystic Music."

The production of "Git On Down," the first single from It's About Time, is much more musical than Flav's past efforts with P.E., "Cold Lampin' With Flavor," and "911 Is A Joke." "Hot 1" has an old-school hip-hop edge. The album's production, primarily handled by Flav, is diverse, though Flav's wired and choppy rap style is still in place. The most surprising song is Flav's collaboration with Chicago, whose lead singer, Robert Lamm is also signed to Mystic Music.

"I think the song I did with Chicago is gonna be one of the biggest crossover records since Run-DMC and Aerosmith," Flav says of his remake of Chicago's "Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is."

Flav hopes to get another equally exciting collaboration in the works. He plans to record a song called "Pass The Torch" that would feature Bushwick Bill, Busta Rhymes, and Ol' Dirty Bastard, the three rappers he feels most embody his superior hype-man qualities. "I spoke to Busta and Bushwick, but I haven't spoken to ODB. But once I talk to ODB, we can put this whole thing into perspective."

Additionally, Flav says previous media coverage of his bouts with drugs and domestic issues were unfair. "I'm doing very well," Flav said. "F--k all the dirty info y'all getting, 'cause just like we made the record 'Don't Believe The Hype,' don't believe everything you read. Don't believe everything you hear. Come to the horse's mouth and get the true story."

Flav plans to offer a special limited download of "Flava2K" via his website, www.flavorflav.com.

Features on Public Enemy and Chicago are available on LAUNCH.com.

-- Billy Johnson Jr., Los Angeles

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