Flavor Flav addressed his recovery head-on at the Black Music Action Coalition Gala in Beverly Hills, revealing he’s back on course after a relapse in April disrupted his yearslong sobriety streak.
“Right now it’s going very well. I’m back on point. I’m back on track. You know what I’m saying? And this is the way that I plan on staying for the rest of my life,” the 66-year-old Hip-Hop icon told PEOPLE.
The Public Enemy co-founder has been transparent about his history with drug addiction.
He began his road to recovery in 2020 after decades of substance abuse, which he once said cost him up to “$2,400 to $2,600 a day … for six years straight.”
In April, Flav publicly acknowledged a brief relapse via Instagram Stories, saying he wanted to “hold myself publicly accountable.”
He had been sober for four and a half years before the slip.
“I briefly relapsed. I say this to admit my mistake and publicly hold myself accountable,” he wrote. “I am a human being who makes mistakes and it doesn’t make me a bad person.”
Speaking at the gala, Flav shared advice for others navigating recovery setbacks.
“If you take a fall, don’t lay there and stay stuck,” he said. “You got to get up off of that fall and you have to K-I-M — keep it moving. Operation no choice is now in progress. Either you keep it moving, or you stay stuck. And the name of the game is to keep it moving.”
Flav has also used his platform to raise awareness about mental health. In October 2024, he celebrated four years of sobriety by offering to cover therapy app subscriptions for others on World Mental Health Day.
“My mental health is an important part of my sobriety journey,” he said at the time.
In a 2023 podcast interview, he reflected on surviving years of addiction and why he believes he’s still here.
“I guess God wanted me to live. And he knows that I’m a mouthpiece to the world,” he said. “So, I feel that God let me live through that, so that way, I could teach people about the mistakes that I made.”
Flav continues to make appearances and perform while staying committed to his recovery. His presence at the BMAC Gala was in support of the organization’s work to advance equity in the music industry.
His message remains steady: accountability, resilience and forward momentum.