Public Enemy’s Flavor Flav donated some of his “time” earlier this week.
According to The Harvard Gazette, the popular clock-wearing personality visited Harvard University Tuesday to appear on Poetry in America, a PBS companion to an Extension School course offered at the institution, and left behind a (time) piece of himself.
The reality TV star attended the class with songwriter Sam Hollander
and Professor Elisa New to discuss 19th-century poet Emily Dickinson’s work. The three of them read from “A Clock Stopped—Not the Mantel’s,” “Publication—is the Auction,” and “I’m Nobody! Who are you?” It was a nearly 90-minute discussion that featured insights into Dickinson’s dark humor and rhyme scheme.“I have found, as we find in any good seminar, that the intellectual excitement
really only happens when a group of people is working together to understand something,” said New, professor emerita in Harvard’s English department. “What’s the most fun is seeing people who are not known as experts on poetry really dig in and get engaged.”The class resonated Flavor Flav, who told the audience that he had also made his own attempts at symbolism courtesy of the gigantic clock he wears around his neck.
“The reason why I wear this clock is because every single second that the minute hand goes around—we have to use each second to the best value,” Flav said. “Once we stop, it still keeps going anyway.”
The “911 is a Joke” rapper did leave behind something for the students to remember him by, donating one of his clocks to Harvard’s Hip-hop Archive this week. The now-sober celebrity stated that he was grateful to spend time with the people who continue to support him.
“It was pretty cool…Being here at Harvard is big. And for me to be able to come and donate one of my clocks to the university, I’m honored.”