When I was a younger, more impressionable man, I was obsessed, like millions of boys before me, with novelty rap songs. “Amish Paradise” by “Weird Al” Yankovic, The Lonely Island, the entire oeuvre of Lil Dicky—I loved them all. But the king of this genre of funny rap songs was undoubtedly a Los Angeles rapper called Joseph Edgar Foreman, known and beloved by his fans as Afroman. I was fixated on his magnum opus—“Because I Got High”—a meandering, fun song that became part of the soundtrack to an infinite number of days with my friends doing nothing and having the time of our lives. I have a vivid memory of sitting around a fire at a summer camp in upstate New York with my best friends in the world and an acoustic guitar, riffing on another incredible Afroman hit—widely known as “Colt 45”—just guys being, you know, dudes.
Now in my 30s, I haven’t thought much about Afroman lately. So this week it was an unexpected joy seeing his triumph in a defamation suit brought against him by members of an Ohio sheriff’s department in what can only be described as a tremendous victory for both the American justice system and the First Amendment. Let me explain.
In 2022, while he was performing at a concert in Chicago, 350 miles from his home near Cincinnati, Afroman’s house was raided by the police. Alleging possible kidnapping and drug offenses, they got a warrant from a judge—and acted on it. Watching the CCTV feed on his phone, Afroman saw it all. He saw a huge squad of officers break his gate, kick down his door, rummage through the pockets of his suits, and confiscate thousands of dollars in cash. The police eventually left the property, leaving an estimated $20,000 worth of damage in their wake. They found nothing incriminating and no charges were pursued against the rapper.
