The role of a hip-hop hypeman is to take an audience—whether bored or eager, sleepy or anxious—and transform them into a cohesive, screaming crowd, ready to dance and hungry for a good time. No one fills that role quite like Flavor Flav.

William Drayton Jr. was born in Long Island in 1959, and rose to fame in the late ’80s as Flavor Flav, the legendary hypeman of Public Enemy, the group that gave rap a political edge with its debut, Yo! Bum Rush the Show. Serving as a comedic foil to the stern front man Chuck D, Flav blazed a path across the stage like a pied piper of hip-hop, urging people to get out of their seats, follow along with the song, and turn up for a party. When he wasn’t pumping up the crowd, Flav would take the mic on songs like “Too Much Posse,” “911 Is a Joke,” and “Cold Lampin’ with Flavor.”