Afroman
American rapper (born 1974)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph Edgar Foreman (born July 28, 1974), known by his stage name Afroman, is an American rapper and singer. His major label debut, The Good Times (2001), featured the singles "Because I Got High" and "Crazy Rap". He was nominated for a Grammy Award the following year.
_(cropped).jpg)
July 28, 1974
- Musician
- rapper
- singer
Afroman | |
|---|---|
Afroman performing in 2011 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Joseph Edgar Foreman July 28, 1974 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Origin | Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S.[1] Palmdale, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels |
|
| Website | ogafroman |
Early life
Joseph Edgar Foreman was born on July 28, 1974 in Los Angeles.[2] He lived for a short while in Mississippi before moving to South Central Los Angeles at an early age. He later lived in Palmdale in the High Desert, briefly in Las Vegas, and then in Hattiesburg northwest of Gulfport, Mississippi.[3]
Career
The first song Foreman wrote was entitled "Hairy Carrie". Written during his time in middle school, it was a "diss song" about a student known for her harassment of fellow students' appearances.[4]
In eighth grade he began recording mixtapes of homemade songs and selling them to classmates.[4] He later recalled:
"The first tape I made was about my eighth-grade teacher. She got me kicked out of school for sagging my pants, which was a big deal back then... I wrote this song about her and it sold about 400 copies: it was selling to teachers, students, just about everybody... I realized that, even though I wasn't at school, my song was at school, so in a way I was still there. All these people would come by my house just to give me comments about how cool they thought the song was."[5]
Foreman performed in his church at a young age, playing drums and guitar.[4] He dropped out of Palmdale High School in 1991.[2]
In 1998, Foreman released his first album, My Fro-losophy, which was a flop. In 1999, he released Sell Your Dope and moved to Hattiesburg, Mississippi,[4] where he met drummer Jody Stallone, keyboardist/bassist Darrell Havard, and producer Tim Ramenofsky (a.k.a. Headfridge). Foreman attributes his musical success in part to leaving southern California, saying that Midwesterners and Southerners were more willing than people in Los Angeles to experiment with their taste in music.[6]
Ramenofsky produced and released Foreman's album Because I Got High in 2000 on T-Bones Records; it was distributed primarily through local concerts and the file-sharing service Napster before the title track was played on The Howard Stern Show. The song humorously describes cannabis use degrading the narrator's quality of life.[4] In late 2001, the song became a hit and was featured in the 2000s films Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, The Perfect Score, and Disturbia. Because I Got High was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance in 2002.[7] Foreman joined the lineup of Cypress Hill's fall festival "Smoke Out" with Deftones, Method Man, and others.[8] Universal Records signed Foreman to a six-album deal, and released The Good Times in 2001, a compilation of Foreman's first two albums together with new songs.[4]
Foreman began releasing his music independently in 2004, mostly through the Internet,[4] and that year, he recorded Jobe Bells, which satirized traditional Christmas songs.[9] He was part of the 2010 Gathering of the Juggalos lineup.[10] In October 2014, Foreman released a remix of "Because I Got High" to publicize the usefulness of cannabis, as part of the effort to legalize its sale across the United States.[11]
Personal life
Foreman is married to Angie Foreman.[2]
Religion
In 2003, Foreman declared himself to be a Christian.[12] In January 2023, he released an hour-long video on YouTube titled "How To Be Happy In An Unhappy World - Sermon By Foreman" detailing his experiences and understanding of life's issues and how to overcome tribulations through faith in the word of God.[13]
Assault case
On February 17, 2015, Foreman was midway through his performance at a music venue in Biloxi, Mississippi, when a woman walked on stage. While dancing and holding a drink, she approached him from behind. Foreman punched her in the face and was escorted offstage by security. He was taken into custody, charged with assault, and released on bond.
12 to 15 security guards had been on duty to manage a crowd in excess of 500. According to Foreman's representative, he had punched the woman in an involuntary reaction to the invasion of his personal space. Foreman said that he mistook her for another audience member who had been heckling him throughout the performance. He publicly apologized and sought assistance with anger management.[14][15]
Raid on Ohio home
In August 2022, the Adams County, Ohio Sheriff's Department searched Foreman's home while he was in Chicago, on suspicion of kidnapping and drug trafficking. Nothing was found, and Foreman said he had had nothing more in his house than the ends of a few blunts and unused pipes made for him by fans. No charges were laid.[16]
Foreman posted about the experience on social media and criticized the officers for the raid and for damaging his property.[17] He posted about a previous burglary on his home after which the sheriff's department threatened him with arrest if he kept checking about the progress of the case. He was told they did not have time to provide him with an update.[18][19] The police search damaged his door, external gate, and security system which cost over $20,000 to repair. Officers also seized over $5,000 of cash, which was returned with $400 missing.[16]
He recorded three songs criticizing the raid, titled "Will You Help Me Repair My Door", “Lemon Pound Cake" (set to the tune of Under the Boardwalk by The Drifters, and subsequently the name of his album) and "Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera." He released three music videos on December 29, 2022, composed primarily of security camera recordings of the raid.[20] On March 14, 2023, seven Adams County police officers sued Foreman, alleging that his use of the video of the raid invaded their privacy.[21] The court dismissed the claim that he improperly used the officer's likeness for commercial purposes, but let the claim that he defamed them and placed them in a false light go to trial.[22] In response, he recorded a fourth song titled “Batteram Hymn of the Police Whistle Blower”, further criticizing the Sheriff’s Department.[23] The trial began in March 2026 with Foreman taking the stand to testify.[24][25]
2024 presidential candidacy
On December 20, 2022, Foreman's campaign manager, Jason Savage, announced that Foreman would stand in the 2024 presidential election, citing inflation, the housing market, law enforcement corruption, and legalizing marijuana as key campaign issues.[26][27]
Discography
- My Fro-losophy (1998)
- Because I Got High (2000)
- Sell Your Dope (2000)
- The Good Times (2001)
- Afroholic... The Even Better Times (2004)
- Jobe Bells (2004)
- 4R0:20 (2004)
- The Hungry Hustlerz: Starvation Is Motivation (2004)
- Drunk 'n' High (2006)
- A Colt 45 Christmas (2006)
- Waiting to Inhale (2008)
- Frobama: Head of State (2009)
- Marijuana Music (2013)
- The Frorider (2014)
- Happy to Be Alive (2016)
- Cold Fro-T-5 and Two Frigg Fraggs (2017)
- Save a Cadillac, Ride a Homeboy (2020)
- Lemon Pound Cake (2022)[28]
- Famous Player (2023)
- 20 Twenty-Fro (2024)
