NBA Fans Applaud Flavor Flav For His Heartfelt Performance Of The National Anthem: “Best One Yet”

By Radhamely De Leon
Published Oct. 30, 2023, 1:48 p.m. ET

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Rapper Flavor Flav, of Flavor of Love fame, stunned NBA fans everywhere when he stopped by Sunday’s (Oct. 30) Bucks-Hawks game to perform his own heartfelt performance of “The Star Spangled Banner” to kick off the game.

Though he’s no Marvin Gaye, many viewers at home were struck by his determined performance. The rapper certainly tried his best in the now-viral moment, which he told fans was a “long time bucket list item” of his.

“That was fun! I can’t live my life worried about what people might say about me,” he wrote in a post shared on X later that evening. “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.”

Now, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer has left yet another mark on pop culture with this viral moment.

Fans had a somewhat mixed reaction to Flav’s performance, with many wondering why the Milwuakee Bucks chose him to perform the song at all.

“You can tell he truly rehearsed this and sang to the best of his ability. Love it. So happy for him, go Flav!” one fan wrote on X.

“I don’t think you did that bad at all my man ..I have and will hear much worse..good job brother,” one fan wrote in response to Flav’s statement on X.

“I made a lil joke, but in all honesty you did well. Nobody thought you could sing like that fam!!” another fan responded.

Flav, born William Jonathan Drayton Jr., is a Grammy-nominated rapper best known for being one of the founding members of the rap group Public Enemy. He later appeared in a number of VH1 series including the iconic Flavor of Love, a Bachelor-style dating series where 20 contestants competed for the rapper’s affection.

Though many on X were shocked by Flav’s earnest performance, some were quick to point out that Flav has long been an accomplished musician after teaching himself how to play multiple instruments as a child.

This will surely be considered one of the most memorable performances of the National Anthem, right up there with the often criticized performance from Fergie at the 2018 NBA All Star Game.