Flavor Flav said he spent a total of $5M over the course of six years on drugs at the height of his addiction.
Flavor Flav celebrated two years of sobriety in October but in a recent interview, he detailed the worst point of his addiction. At the time, he spent over $2,000 a day to keep up with his habit for over half a decade.
LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 17: Rapper Flavor Flav arrives at the 9th Annual Multicultural Prism Awards at the Henry Fonda "Music Box" Theatre on December 17, 2004 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
Flav sat down with Akademiks for his On The Record where he opened up about his battle against addiction during their interview. The Public Enemy co-founder revealed that he “never really let people know exactly” the extent of how bad things got, such as the amount of money he spent on substances.
“There was a time that I was spending $2,400 to $2,600 a day... for six years straight. You do the math," he said. "That's how much I spent on drugs."
He later admitted that he spent $1M annually on drugs at the worst points of his addiction. He was also selling at the same time, though he would dip into his own stash.
CHICAGO, IL - DECEMBER 05: Chuck D and Flavor Flav of Public Enemy perform at House Of Blues Chicago on December 5, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Daniel Boczarski/Redferns via Getty Images)
“I ain't gonna lie, I sold a lot. But I was my best customer ... I had a lot of money at the time too. I was just doing the wrong things with my money," Flav recalled.
In 2020, he decided to get clean and began his journey toward sobriety, which he has since maintained.
“I guess God wanted me to live. And he knows that I'm a mouthpiece to the world," he said. "So, I feel that God let me live through that. So that way, I could teach people about the mistakes that I made. And hopefully, they won't make them later on in life."
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Aron A. is a features editor for HotNewHipHop. Beginning his tenure at HotNewHipHop in July 2017, he has comprehensively documented the biggest stories in the culture over the past few years.
Throughout his time, Aron’s helped introduce a number of buzzing up-and-coming artists to our audience, identifying regional trends and highlighting hip-hop from across the globe. As a Canadian-based music journalist, he has also made a concerted effort to put spotlights on artists hailing from North of the border as part of Rise & Grind, the weekly interview series that he created and launched in 2021.
Aron also broke a number of stories through his extensive interviews with beloved figures in the culture. These include industry vets (Quality Control co-founder Kevin "Coach K" Lee, Wayno Clark), definitive producers (DJ Paul, Hit-Boy, Zaytoven), cultural disruptors (Soulja Boy), lyrical heavyweights (Pusha T, Styles P, Danny Brown), cultural pioneers (Dapper Dan, Big Daddy Kane), and the next generation of stars (Lil Durk, Latto, Fivio Foreign, Denzel Curry). Aron also penned cover stories with the likes of Rick Ross, Central Cee, Moneybagg Yo, Vince Staples, and Bobby Shmurda.
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