Afroman Albums

[Rashawn Devegowda]

Listof the best Afroman albums, including pictures of the album covers when available. This Afroman discography is ranked from best to worst, so the top Afroman albums can be found at the top of the list. To make it easy for you, we haven't included Afroman singles, EPs, or compilations, so everything you see here should only be studio albums. If you think the greatest Afroman album isn't high enough on the list, then be sure to vote for it so it receives the credit it deserves. Make sure you don't just vote for critically acclaimed albums; if you have a favorite Afroman album, then vote it up, even if it's not necessarily the most popular.

If you want to know, "What is the Best Afroman album of all time?" or "What are the top Afroman albums?" then this list will answer your questions. Albums on this list include Because I Got High and Drunk 'n' High.

Comedic rapper Afroman first broke through in 2000 with his ubiquitous stoner-lifestyle anthem "Because I Got High," bringing his songs of wit, weed, and deep-fried funk to the masses. Afroman's signature song had a remarkable shelf life and was used in various films and television productions over the years. Far from a one-hit wonder, however, Afroman's discography is deep, spanning from tapes and CDs he self-released in the late '90s through to highlights like 2008's Frobama and 2016's Crazy Rap.

Afroman was born Joseph Foreman in East Palmdale, Los Angeles. Citing influences like Too $hort, Big Daddy Kane, and 2 Live Crew, he began his rap career in the eighth grade, when he started making homemade tapes of his own songs and passing them out to his classmates. He got his start as a performer at church, where he played drums and eventually moved on to playing guitar. For a while, he even worked as an airport baggage handler while trying to make an impression with his songs.

In 1999, while he was still living in Los Angeles, Afroman released his first album, Sell Your Dope, and played parties, sidewalks, and contests. Not finding L.A. to his liking, he moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where he teamed up with drummer Jody Stallone and keyboardist/bassist Daryl Havard. In the spring of 2000, he recorded his breakout LP, Because I Got High, with producer Tim Ramenofsky. He distributed it at shows with the help of T-Bones Records in Hattiesburg. As word spread about his live shows, demand for his music increased. At the time, online file-sharing service Napster had just kicked off the MP3 revolution, which turned out to be a boon for Afroman. A fan managed to acquire a copy of his album in digital form and posted the track "Because I Got High" to Napster. Howard Stern also boosted the popularity of the track by playing it on his radio show. "Because I Got High" went on to become a huge worldwide hit by the end of 2001. It was nominated for a Best Rap Grammy in 2002.

Afroman eventually attracted the attention of Universal Records, which signed him to a six-album deal. His first Universal album, The Good Times, was a compilation of his first two LPs and a few new tracks. "Because I Got High" was also included on the soundtrack to Kevin Smith's film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. After parting ways with Universal, Afroman became an independent artist and self-released a string of follow-ups. When he returned, he did so in a big way, releasing a whopping four albums in 2004. He started with the double-disc Afroholic...The Even Better Times, released on April 20th. Free of Universal, he wrote, produced, and recorded Afroholic on his own, marketed it largely online, and toured with a live band. He followed with 4RO:20, the holiday album Jobe Bells, and his fifth studio album, The Hungry Hustlerz: Starvation Is Motivation, which featured rappers like Po Boy, Mr. Mix, Strainj, and Blaq. Two more albums arrived in 2006: Drunk'n'High and his second holiday album, A Colt .45 Christmas.

While his birth certificate might list him as Joseph Foreman, the artist who began his rap career in eighth grade by making homemade tapes of his songs and passing them out to classmates is now known across the world as Afroman.

After getting his feet wet as a performer at church playing drums, Afroman later picked up the guitar and released his debut album, "Sell Your Dope," on his own in 1999, performing at parties and on the streets of Los Angeles.

He soon split L.A. and moved to Hattiesburg, Miss., picking up drummer Jody Stallone and keyboardist/bassist Daryl Havard. His sophomore LP, "Because I Got High," hit the streets in the spring of 2000.

While his albums were distributed at shows and through T-Bone Records in Hattiesburg, word-of-mouth spread all over the 'Net, and pretty soon he was a hot commodity on the controversial music-file-swapping service Napster.

Next thing you know, he was signed to Universal Records, and "Because I Got High" became a huge worldwide hit after it was included on the soundtrack to Kevin Smith's film "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back."

These days, things have come full circle for Afroman. His latest release, the double-disc "Afroholic ... the Even Better Times," was released independently on his own Hungry Hustler Records label and is being marketed through his old pal, the Internet. He's performing smaller clubs, but his popularity remains relatively high.

MindRise is a roots-rock reggae power trio specializing in original songs and a few choice covers. It consists of Patrick Kennedy on bass, Eddie Arenas on drums and Chet Honeycutt on guitar. All three sing.

McCoy, who lives in the Tampa Bay area, recently finished a new CD with contributions by Garth Hudson and Levon Helm (The Band). He also has recorded with Stevie Ray Vaughn's Double Trouble and toured Europe.

Shannon's two albums for Rykodisc, "A Cab Driver's Blues" and "Mem Shannon's 2nd Blues Album," are a little hard to find but worth the effort. He freely mixes funk, jazz and rock 'n' roll into his guitar playing, and his deep, soulful voice oozes street-smart blues.

Afroman, pictured performing in 2018, made music videos featuring home video footage of a police raid of his house last year. Now some of the officers are suing him, and he plans to countersue. Johnny Louis/Getty Images hide caption

Law enforcement had searched his home on suspicion of drug trafficking and kidnapping, but found no evidence and filed no charges against him. He says they kicked down his door, broke his video surveillance system, stole money from him and frightened his family.

"I asked myself, as a powerless Black man in America, what can I do to the cops that kicked my door in, tried to kill me in front of my kids, stole my money and disconnected my cameras?" he says. "And the only thing I could come up with was make a funny rap song about them and make some money, use the money to pay for the damages they did and move on."

Four deputies, two sergeants and one detective from the Adams County Sheriff's Office are accusing the rapper of profiting from the unauthorized use of their likenesses, at their personal and professional expense.

In a complaint filed in an Ohio pleas court last week, they say it's been more difficult and dangerous to carry out their duties "because of comments made and attitudes expressed toward them by members of the public" who have seen the videos.

"Unless Defendants are restrained, Plaintiffs will suffer irreparable injury to their reputations, their mental health, and their legally protected rights as Defendants continue to willfully and maliciously violate those rights," they wrote.

"I was thinking, these big bad cops ... are being beat up and bullied by those little corny rap songs I made about them," Afroman says. "I'm like, 'Oh my god, are you letting me know that my raps are working on you?'"

"I want to sue them for stealing my money, I want to sue them for writing 'kidnapping' on a warrant and making me suffer financially in my industry because just that accusation makes people raise an eyebrow about you," he adds.

Afroman was out of town on the day of the raid. But his ex-wife and kids, then 10 and 12, live nearby and came over when they saw the police presence. She recorded parts of the raid on her phone, while other scenes were captured by security video cameras around the house.

One of those songs is the title track, inspired by a moment during the raid in which an officer, walking through the kitchen with his gun drawn, broke his focus to look down at a cake dish on the counter.

Afroman's online merchandise store peddles sweatshirts (currently sold out) and t-shirts showing Griffin and a large lemon cake, surrounded by black-and-white images of the officer from the video, with the names Afroman and "Officer Pound Cake."

They also disparage the judge and officers involved in the search: comparing an officer to Quasimodo (the Hunchback of Notre-Dame) and the judge to the cartoon character Droopy, accusing the cops of theft and referring to them as "KKKops" from "Adams KKKounty."

"Me laughing at them, making songs about them, is more powerful than their authority," he says. "It's more powerful than their assault rifles, it's more powerful than what they got because I got these big bad tough guys crying and whining about my songs, on my page, in my world."

"These guys are once again making me a bigger star," he says of the police. "I don't want to pay these guys nothing, but worst case scenario if I had to pay them, off the publicity and fame they gave me it might be fair just to shuffle them a few coins."

He's thinking of working on another album, with a name like Lemon Pound Cake Part 2. Most albums have 7-10 songs, he says, so he would write one about each officer "and see how good I could humiliate them."

Remember The Singing Dogs? It was a band of canines whose songs were spliced-together dog barks. The group's Christmas song "Jingle Bells" topped Billboard's Christmas Singles chart when it was rereleased in 1971, but don't be fooled: The Singing Dogs' Christmas album is far from the quirkiest piece of holiday music out there.

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