“I was going to go to court before I got high. I was going to pay my child support, but then I got high. They took my whole paycheck, and I know why – cause I got high.” The audience may remember these lines from the 2000 hit, “Because I Got High.” The song was written and performed by Afroman, whose real name is Joseph Edgar Foreman. A champion of free speech, as witnessed with that hit along with “Crazy Rap” from his album, The Good Times. “Because I Got High” gave him global fame and recognition, earning him a 2002 Grammy nomination.
But in August of 2022, Afroman ran into trouble that was not so funny at the time. Adam County’s Sheriff’s Office raided Foreman’s home to investigate an alleged kidnapping and drug trafficking. Although Foreman was not at home at the time, his wife and kids were. Damage was done, and things were broken. However, the main complaint in the aftermath of the raid, was not from Foreman himself, but from the deputies of the Adam County Sheriff’s Office. Afroman mocked the ridiculousness of the raid for his song and video “Lemon Pound Cake.”
The “Lemon Pound Cake” video portrayed the office as inefficient, greedy, and amateurish (using the surveillance footage of the erroneous raid on Afroman’s home in 2022), the sheriffs sued him for invasion of privacy and defamation, claiming the video caused emotional stress.
Foreman shed his Clark Kent persona and became his own version of Superman, Afroman. As Afroman, his super abilities do not include flying or lifting anything, no matter its size or weight. No, his superpower is in his analysis and lyrics. The foe was not Lex Luther; it was the Adam County Sheriff deputies. And like all good superheroes, their enemies become uncomfortable and agitated by the hero’s championing of justice against its miscarriages.
Like in every good superhero tale, justice always seems to prevail. In March 2026, Foreman wore an American flag suit in court. The jury agreed that “Lemon Pound Cake” was protected by the First Amendment.
The same was the case for his other banger, “Will You Help Me Repair My Door.” The second track uses just about the same beat, but is a bit more of a melodic bop. Check it out below.
Three years earlier, in 2023, a previous judge dismissed the officers’ claims over the use of their faces in the videos and said public servants should expect feedback on their work. Under New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), public officials can’t win defamation suits for criticism of their duties unless they prove “actual malice”—knowing falsehood or reckless disregard for the truth.
As Foreman masterfully stated in the “Lemon Pound Cake” video, the Adams County Sheriff knocked on my door. I heard the glass break. They found no kidnapping victims, just some Lemon Pound Cake.
