Back in July, Public Enemy released their fourteenth studio album. While many fans were excited for the drop, it turns out that a member of the crew isn't happy about it. TMZ has reported that Flavor Flav is looking to sue Chuck D as well as the other members and managers of the revolutionary hip hop group. Flavor Flav's is filing his lawsuit on claims of lost profit and using his likeness without permission.
In documents obtained by the tabloid website, they say that both Chuck D and Flavor Flav made a long-standing agreement that the two would split any sort of profit they made off of music, live shows and merch. However, Flavor Flav is now claiming that he hasn't seen any royalty checks over the past several years. It's said that Flavor Flav is pretty aggravated by the scenario because he has also discovered that Chuck D is still getting paid off of it.
The report also says that the group used his likeness was used without his consent. On their latest album, they used his image and voice on the record and he reportedly never agreed to it, at least without getting paid the requested amount. Apparently, Flavor Flav asked for $75k for work on the new album but ultimately received $7500. He was under the impression that the rest of the money would be coming later on, however it never did.
On top of both suing Chuck D and Public Enemy as a whole, he's also getting at their producer, Gary G-Wiz. His issue with the producer stems from the fact that again, his likeness was used without his consent. This time, it was because Gary made a deal for Public Enemy action figures to be produced. However, Flavor Flav is claiming that while Gary got paid for the figures, he didn't receive a penny off of it.
It's a pretty sad scenario, especially considering the cultural importance of the group and the impact they've had in not only hip hop, but pop culture as a whole. Hopefully, this ends up getting settled and doesn't leave tension between the remaining group members of PE.
