Afroman Biography

Afroman Biography

Born Joseph Foreman, Afroman may be the first artist to achieve a worldwide hit with the assistance of the Internet. Citing his influences as Too Short, 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 used to work as a baggage handler at an airport while trying to make an impression with his songs. He was still living in East Palmdale, Los Angeles, when in November 1999 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, MS, where he teamed up with drummer Jody Stallone and keyboardist/bassist Daryl Havard. In the spring of 2000 he concocted his second LP, Because I Got High, with producer Tim Ramenofsky. He distributed it at shows and with the help of T-Bone Records in Hattiesburg. The more people he performed for, the more word of mouth spread, with not just a little help from the Internet's controversial music-file swapping service, Napster. Someone who got his hands on his music at a show posted the track "Because I Got High" to Napster and suddenly everything changed for Afroman. Then Howard Stern's radio show boosted "Because I Got High"'s popularity by playing the song on his show. The song "Because I Got High" was based on Afroman's inability to clean up his room. The song lists a number of activities -- cleaning his room, going to court, attending class -- that get derailed because of "reefer madness." Afroman eventually also gained the attention of Universal Records, who 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 ones. "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. "Because I Got High" became a huge hit around the world in the last quarter of 2001. When he returned in 2004, he did so in a big way, with the double-disc Afroholic...the Even Better Times, albeit he did so independently. Free of Universal, he wrote, produced, and recorded Afroholic on his own, marketed it largely via the Internet (www.afromanmusic.com), and toured with a live band. The holiday album Jobe Bells followed in 2004 and then came Drunk'n'High in 2006.

His best-known song is the 2001 novelty song "Because I Got High", which gained popularity through Napster, local radio play, a feature on Howard Stern's radio show, and the "stoner" movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (and accompanying soundtrack). Arguably his second most popular song, "Crazy Rap" (which has also gained popularity through P2P clients), is mostly referred to as "Colt 45". The lyrics of the songs on "Afroholic" begin with references to drugs and sex but then the last verse is usually about how Afroman has now found Jesus. In an interview for the program 50 Greatest One Hit Wonder on British Channel 4 broadcast on 7 May, 2006, he stated that he had given up alcohol, smoking, sex and women for a while but had returned to them. He further stated that he was going to be the best alcohol-drinking, marijuana-smoking, woman-chasing Christian there was. Afroman is also fond of referencing his independence from record labels and the "corporate world" and cites himself as an example of how an artist can take recording and distribution into his or her own hands. There is also a distinct resemblance between the chorus of Afroman's song "Palmdale" to the chorus of "Spring Love" by Stevie B.