The Public Enemy member insists 'it went real good' despite mixed response to his rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner' during the NBA game between the Bucks and the Hawks over the weekend.
- Oct 30, 2023
AceShowbiz - Flavor Flav doesn't let criticism ruin one of the proudest moments of his life. After achieving one of his "bucket list" goals by performing the national anthem at the NBA game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Atlanta Hawks at the Fiserv Forum on Sunday, October 29, the rapper claims that he knew people were going to go "crazy" over it.
Speaking to the Washington Post after the performance earned mixed response, the Public Enemy founding member says, "I had a feeling that the first time that I did it, I was going to do okay. And I had a feeling it was gonna go viral. I, like, expected it." He explains, "Nobody would expect Flavor Flav of Public Enemy singing the national anthem, so I knew that it was going to be kind of crazy."
Despite some negative comments on his rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner", the 64 insists that "it went real good." He defiantly adds, "I had a feeling I was going to get some haters out there - that was expected, too. There's a lot of people that love Flav, but not everybody loves Flav. But, mostly, everybody loves Flav."
Speaking of achieving his dream to perform the national anthem, Flavor shares, "It's something that I always wanted to do, you know what I'm saying? For the past, maybe four or five years. And I just thank God for the power and opportunity that he gave me to be able to do this and accomplish it." Of why he wanted to perform the national anthem so badly, he says, "Because I wanted to show the world that I could hold a note."
He goes on detailing how he was booked for the gig, "Well, it was the president of the Milwaukee Bucks that made this happen for me, Peter Feigin. I asked him one day, 'Can I come to the Bucks game to sing the national anthem?' He said, 'Well, send me a video of you singing it.' I sent him a video of me singing it. He got back to me and said, 'Hey, I like it. Come on, let's do it.' "
The "Flavor Man" rhymer admits he didn't practice before the performance, reasoning, "...because I know the song. I knew how I wanted to sing it and I said, 'Just get out there and just do your thing, Flav.' " He also claims that he sang it the way he intended it to be, saying, "I knew I was going to sing it that way. And I sang it that way on purpose because I wanted to make sure that I have other opportunities to do it again."
Asked whether he would do it again, Flavor replied, "I would do it again." He has even planned how he would do it if he has another chance, saying, "...and the next time that I do it, I would do it a lot quicker. I really took my time with this one, and the reason why is because, for my first time around, I said, I'm going to have fun with this. But the next time I'll sing it, you know, a little more quicker and more generically."
Flavor was trolled on social media after his performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner", with 50 Cent among the critics. The "In da Club" emcee posted on Instagram along with a video of the performance, "WTF. I think this means we going to war, this is a sign fvck it get the strap !"
"The Breakfast Club" called it "foolishness," while an X (formerly Twitter) user tweeted, "The bucks aren't serious about winning tonight." Another joked, "At least he knew the words," while another said, "There's no way this is real."
In contrary, another user said that the video of Flav's singing was the best 2 minutes and 20 seconds of their life. "He killed that," the said person commented. The Bucks themselves posted a video of Flavor's performance and declared, "A flavorful anthem!"
"Not the worst I ever heard…and a lot better than I thought it was going to be," another said. Agreeing, someone added, "He did 1000% better than the entire planet expected him to." Someone else compared Flavor's performance to Stacy Ferguson's that also earned mixed response as writing, "still better than Fergie's thou."
After catching wind of the negative responses, Flavor tweeted on Sunday night, "The anthem was a long time bucket list item. That was fun!. I can't live my life worried about what people might say about me. I won't let that stop me from trying new things and doing things I wanna do. Some people might not like that, but a sure failure is if you stop trying."
He has also appeared to react to 50 Cent's comment by bragging about throwing the first pitch. "Throwing out a first pitch was also a bucket list item,,, I threw a strike right over the plate,!! I bet anyone, not just a dollar, but 50 CENTS to do that,!!" he wrote along with a video of his first pitch.
