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Public Enemy reunion tour being held up by Chuck D. Or Flavor Flav. One of them, anyway

By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 16 September 2021

Chuck D and Flavor Flav are publicly feuding again. And this time it seems it’s not a hoax. Although it’s still not clear if last time was a hoax. Anyway, Flavor Flav says that Public Enemy will be going out on a reunion tour, if only Chuck D can get round to signing the agreement that will get them working together again.

“There’s some things that Chuck D has to work out, and once he comes to the table and signs this partnership agreement then we can work”, Flav tells TMZ. “Until he signs this partnership agreement we’re not working. That’s my boy and that’s my family member, but business-wise, we’re not seeing eye to eye”.

“I’m trying to get Chuck to come and see eye to eye with me”, he adds. “I’m not the hold up of this Public Enemy project. Chuck D is the hold up. I want everybody to know that Chuck D is the hold up and not Flavor Flav. Everybody tell Chuck D to sign the partnership agreement to Public Enemy [so we] can move! I need to move around”.

In a statement to Stereogum, Chuck D responded: “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”.

“Even after all the years of Flav giving the situation minimum while always asking for the maximum, I still work with him”, he added. “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”.

So… Flav is the hold up? Whatever, this is all starting to feel like a repeat of last year’s hoax/non-hoax. In February 2020, Flavor Flav sent a cease-and-desist letter to Public Enemy Radio – a Flavor-less line-up of Public Enemy that has been touring in recent years – complaining that their booking to play a Bernie Sanders fundraiser made it look like he also supported Sanders.

The group responded by saying that Flav had been fired from the main Public Enemy outfit, not due to his political beliefs (as Flav went on to claim), but because “he always chose to party over work”.

So that all seemed very bitter. But then on 1 Apr, Public Enemy Radio released an album, which included a track billed as featuring Public Enemy on it – so including Flavor Flav. And this, claimed Chuck D, was all part of a big hoax. Flav hadn’t been fired! They were just trying to promote this new collaboration. So that was all definitely very clear to everyone. Everyone except Flavor Flav, who said he knew nothing of any hoax and thought it was all in very poor taste.

But then, in September last year, Public Enemy itself released a new album – ‘What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?’ – which saw Chuck D and Flavor Flav patch up their differences for long enough to record seventeen whole tracks together.

If you want to see them tour that album though, Chuck D is going to have to sign that partnership agreement. Or Flavor Flav is going to have to buck up his ideas and get down to work. Or maybe both. Or maybe this is all a hoax and the tour is going to start tomorrow.