Police sue rapper for causing officer 'tremendous pain' after singing about sleeping with his wife
Musical connoisseurs among you may remember the song 'Because I Got High' and the lyrical artist behind it, a rapper known as Afroman.
His real name is Joseph Edgar Foreman but if you've got the kind of hairdo to justify the name Afroman then you've earned the title, and recently he was in court after the police sued him.
Armed officers broke down his door in 2022 as part of an investigation into drugs and kidnapping but no evidence was found and no charges resulted from the raid, and Afroman released a series of songs mocking the officers in for an album he titled Lemon Pound Cake.
The album's title was allegedly inspired by a deputy taking an interest in such a cake in Afroman's kitchen during the raid, and WCPO reported that Afroman accused the officers of damaging his property, taking money, cutting security video cords and traumatising his kids.
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Afroman wasn't home at the time of the raid but he was able to use footage from his wife and the home's security camera feed for songs mocking the whole thing in Lemon Pound Cake.
In the various songs in the album CNN reports that Afroman made various accusations towards the officers for which they sued him for defamation.
One of the videos was titled 'Licc’em Low Lisa', which caused Adams County Sheriff's Deputy Lisa Phillips to cry on the stand while the song was played in the courtroom, which contained a fictional depiction of her having sex with women.
Asked in court about the song, Afroman said Phillips had been 'in front of my kids with an AR-15, with her hand around the trigger ready to shoot me'.
"But I’m not a person. She is. I’m sorry for being a victim. Let’s talk about the predators," he had said.
Another song was aimed at another officer, Randolph Walters Jr, with the lyrics from Afroman calling him a 'son of a b***h' and declaring the rapper 'f**ked his wife and got filthy rich'.
The Guardian reports that Walters told the court the song had 'caused tremendous pain in my life'.
He said: "I been with that woman since middle school, I would hope she wouldn’t. But you know what, once someone puts it out there for their fun and entertainment, it’s out there, and it’s a problem."
While the officers had sued Afroman for defamation a three day trial concluded when the jury decided to go with the 'fro and resolve the matter in the rapper's favour.
Following his courtroom verdict he said: "I didn’t win, America won. America still has freedom of speech. It’s still for the people by the people... This whole thing is [the police force’s] fault.
"They broke into my house, put themselves on my video cameras and into my music career. With my freedom of speech, I had the right to talk about the events going on in my life, with my family, with my friends and with my fans."
Joe Harker