Rapper Flavour Flav arrested in Las Vegas with marijuana, alcohol in car

Flavor Flav performs during the first day of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana April 25, 2014. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman

(Reuters) - Rap star Flavour Flav was arrested on Thursday in Las Vegas on suspicion of driving under the influence, after he was pulled over for speeding and was found with marijuana and an open container of alcohol in his BMW, a Nevada state trooper said. Flavour Flav, who rose to fame in the 1980s as a rapper with the politically oriented group Public Enemy, was travelling 73 miles per hour (117 kph) in a 45-mile-per-hour (72-kph) zone on Interstate 15 when he was stopped shortly after midnight, said Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Trooper Loy Hixson. The 56-year-old rapper, who was born William Drayton Jr., was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, marijuana possession, having an open container of alcohol in a vehicle, driving with a suspended vehicle registration and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended licence, Hixson said. He posted bail of $7,000 to be released from jail later on Thursday, Hixson said. A spokesman for the Long Island, New York-born Flavour Flav declined to immediately comment on the arrest. Results are pending on a blood alcohol test to determine how intoxicated Flavour Flav might have been, Hixson said. Flavour Flav's attention-grabbing wardrobe features a giant clock that he wears around his neck and a Viking helmet. The rapper in the last decade has starred on cable television in a number of reality shows and comedies. Public Enemy, which also features Chuck D, most recently released a studio album in 2012 with "The Evil Empire of Everything." Its biggest-selling albums include "Fear of a Black Planet" and "It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back." (Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Eric Walsh)