Vegas Police Nab Reality TV Star, Flava Flav on Felony Assault, Battery Charges

By Alicia Cruz

Yahoo News Contributing Writer

Las Vegas, Nevada police were called to the home of  troubled Reality TV star and former rapper, Flava Flav following a Wednesday morning domestic violence incident involving the rapper, his girlfriend of eight-years, Elizabeth Trujillo and her teenaged son, Gibran.

Flava Flav, whose real name is William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. , is being charged with one felony assault with a deadly weapon, and, one misdemeanor Battery (domestic Violence) after police say a nasty argument escalated to Drayton twice throwing Trujillo to the floor.

The woman's son became involved after going to the defense of his mother. That's when Drayton allegedly grabbed two knives from the kitchen and began chasing the teenager. The police report further indicated that Gibran escaped to a room locking himself and his sister, Kayla inside when Drayton allegedly kicked in the door and yelled threats to kill Gibran.

Eventually, Trujillo was able to telephone 911 and police arrived to the couple’s South Side home and arrested the Freeport, New York native.

Drayton left the Clark County Detention Center after posting a $20,000.00 on the felony charge and a $3,000 bond on the misdemeanor charge. He made his first court appearance this morning.

No word on any injuries to the 17-year-old or Trujillo, who is the mother of Drayton's seventh child, Karma, age five. However, Drayton reportedly cut one his fingers with one of the knives he was holding.

Drayton, a high school dropout, spent much of the 1990s as a guest of the New York State Department of Corrections stemming from arrests for everything from drug possession, assault, attempted murder, domestic violence and a variety of traffic violations, reported Wikipedia.com.

 During an Australian radio show interview on the Kyle and Jackie O Show in 2011, Drayton admitted to spending more than $2,000 per day during a three-year crack cocaine binge before checking into the Betty Ford Clinic. The clock-wearing personality said he began drinking at the age of six and smoking marijuana at age 12.

Listen to interview here

The 53-year-old father of seven arrived on the music scene in 1984 as a founding member of the rap group Public Enemy. The group released their first track titled, "Public Enemy #1." The track drew the attention of Def Jam Records executive Rick Rubin, who signed the group, which included rapper, Chuck D, to the label in 1986. Drayton, raised in Freeport, New York, scored his first solo rap hit in 1990 with rap single, “911 Is a Joke.”

According to Drayton's Wikipedia page, his brief, but very public relationship with former "Rocky" actress, Brigitte Nielsen developed after the two were cast on VH1's reality show, "The Surreal Life" during season three in 2004. At the conclusion of the show, VH1 producers offered the new lovebird’s spin-off reality show, "Strange Love," which follows the duo through their adventures in Lake Como in Italy to the gritty streets of the Bronx, to church services in Freeport, where fists began flying after some of Drayton's children appeared outside the church wearing "Deadbeat Dad" T-shirts.

 The show ends with the break-up of the strange couple, but leads to three-season spin-off reality show, "Flavor of Love" in 2006.

The hip-hop stars became a restaurateur with the opening of takeout restaurant, "Flavor Flav House of Flavor" earlier this year in Las Vegas. He told Businessweek reporter, Claire Suddath that he enrolled in a culinary arts course and earned degree in culinary arts in 1978.

"Back in the day, cooking definitely was the thing where you could make a lot of money. Also, it was something that I liked to do. Being that my family had the restaurant, I decided to take up a culinary arts degree so I can be one of [its] certified cooks. But then [it closed and] I was an institutional cooker instead. I worked as a head cook at courthouses and high schools, said Drayton."

Drayton's "Flav’s Fried Chicken" restaurant in Clinton, Iowa shut down when Drayton says he became disenchanted by the business practices of his restaurant manager Nick Cimino after Drayton told TMZ that he visited the eatery and found expired potato salad and learned that employee paychecks were bouncing, reported rollingstone.com.

Cimino fired back calling Drayton a "fraud" who wanted to "become a millionaire" at Cimnion's expense and by using his ideas. Cimino told WQAD that the payroll allegations were not the result of bounced checks, but a simple "credit card glitch," wrote Rolling Stone reporter, Matthew Perpetua.

The negative experience did not stop Drayton from pursuing another restaurant idea, this time in Detroit, Michigan. In April, he announced that with the help of fellow hip group members from "Public Enemy" and financial backers, Gino Harmon and Salvatore Bitonti he would open "Flavor Flav’s Chicken and Ribs." The Soul food eatery situated on 15 Mile Rd and Van Dyke neighbors the MJR Theatre and Chrysler plant.