Flavor Flav reflects deeply on life, love and being Hollywood's biggest hype man

CNN
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Flavor Flav moves through life these days like he has no time to waste.

In recent months, he has been seen backstage at a Bruce Springsteen concert, first part of U2, speaking to Harvardgushing Dear And Donny Osmondand exchange friendship bracelets with the Swifties during an Eras Tour show. The ultimate fashion man, however, is no stranger to fame himself.

Flav's career began in 1985, when he co-founded the rap group Public Enemy. He was later inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and starred in several early reality shows, including The Surreal Life and Flavor of Love.

He didn't lose his enthusiasm for life, his fellow artists, or his iconic clock necklaces along the way. Now 65, Flav's next project is a reality series that will focus on his quest to earn a high school diploma.

CNN recently caught up with Flav to see if we could bottle some of his seemingly endless enthusiasm. Our chat, which touched on his hopes of meeting Megan Thee Stallion and remaining humbler than King Kong, follows. It has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

CNN: Are those clock sunglasses you're wearing?

FF: Yes. These are all vintage frames, vintage baby frames.

CNN: So, as a fan, who have you met recently that you like?

FF: I met Donny Osmond last week, you know what I'm saying?

CNN: As a Swiftie, are you excited about the new album released this week?

FF: I love Taylor Swift. Yeah. You know, power to the Swifties, power to the Swifties.

CNN: You both love wearing your clocks.

FF: That’s true. That's right. And we keep them both at 12 o'clock too. Yeah. And the reason I keep my clock at 12 o'clock is because 12 o'clock points straight up. And right now, I'm honest with you every day.

CNN: I love it. OK, let's go. What do you think has happened for you in recent years? Have you come to appreciate art and artists more?

FF: You know, the world really loves Public Enemy. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And there are a lot of young artists who also really like Flavor Flav. So what I do is I just accept all of that and I accept their music as well.

CNN: How do you have all this energy? You have a young mind.

FF: I'm just trying to keep up with what's going on, you know what I'm saying? With all the new stuff happening and all these new, younger artists. I'm just trying to keep up.

CNN: You recently met Cher, can you talk about that moment for yourself?

FF: I don't know if she knew exactly who I was. Yeah. But I could tell she knew I knew who she was. I've been trying to meet this woman for a really long time, so when they told me she was going to be at the iHeart Awards, I said, you know what, now this might be my chance. The only thing I know is that I had to make sure this woman knew who I was, where I came from, and why I was there. And the only thing I could say, mission accomplished, baby.

CNN: And you like Billie Eilish, what do you think of her?

FF: My love for Billie Eilish comes from the type of person she is, number one. And as a young artist, she's truly amazing. And not only that, but she makes history. She is very, very ambitious, a go-getter. And I'm a go-getter. Yeah. Just like Billie Eilish, I love her, man.

CNN: You recently went backstage to meet Bruce Springsteen, what was his reaction to you?

FF: I hoped he knew who I was. But I tell everyone, I never did gymnastics, but I did flips. I was freaking out. The most important thing was when he got off stage and into the audience. As he passed me, he gave his boy Flavor Flav a pound.

CNN: Did any big names want to meet you?

FF: Yeah. And not only that, a lot of these celebrities that I met, I'm sure they wanted to meet me too. It's just that I contacted them before they reached me.

CNN: Who is still on your list to meet?

FF: I haven't met Megan Thee Stallion yet.

CNN: Who is the most famous person on your phone right now?

FF: Outside of me? Babyface Edmonds. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Jelly roll! LL Cool J.

CNN: What do your kids think of all the fame and fanfare?

FF: My kids are having fun with this whole man, just being themselves. My daily life is getting up, taking my son to school, picking him up from school, you know?

CNN: How would you describe your life right now?

FF: I'm having fun in my life right now. I'm really having a lot of fun in my life right now. Let me tell you this, because you know, this life that we live physically, we only have it once.

CNN: Isn't that the point of your clock necklace?

FF: Yeah. So my thing is while we're living this physical life, let's enjoy life as much as we can, let's have as much fun as we can. Because when we die, we become nothing but memories. But we want to be the most positive memories, the most influential memories, the most innovative memories, you know, the most positive memories that are talked about years after we die.

CNN: Are you aware of this every day?

FF: Hey. Because you wake up every day knowing that life is not promised to you.

CNN: Do you have any final thoughts you would like to express?

FF: Let me say this. You know, when people see me, a lot of people see me as a really big star. Like bigger than King Kong, but for me, I'm not that size. I'm only human size, you know? And you gotta stay humble, man. You must remain humble. And I think that's another thing that people like the most about me is because I'm humble, you know? I'm a fan, but I also give people the time of day when people come to me and ask for a photo, they understand. When they come to ask for an autograph or a hug, I give it to them. And this kind of thing goes very, very far.