The world’s focus may be on Kamala Harris’s Brat summer at the moment but one 00s rapper has been flying under the radar with his presidential bid.
It’s been 24 years since Afroman released his hit single Because I Got High and he’s still championing marijuana – all the way to the White House.
That’s right the 50-year-old one-hit wonder is still in the running to become the actual president of the US with the campaign slogan ‘Weed shall overcome’.
Afroman, real name Joseph Edgar Foreman, reached number one in the UK in 2001 with Because I Got High.
The song was even nominated for the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance, losing out to Missy Elliot’s Get Your Freak On.
A year later he released Crazy Rap, also called Colt 45, which peaked at number 10 in the UK charts.
Foreman is still releasing music on occasion but nowadays his Instagram is filled with his presidential campaign – as well as keen female fans getting various body parts signed by Afroman.
In between his posts featuring a surprising number of women flashing their bums and breasts, the singer shared his thoughts on Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race.
‘Joe Biden just dropped out the race,’ he wrote. ‘Even if I don’t like a man, I hate when strangers and a bunch of busters influence and persuade a man away from his dreams.
‘I’ll be damned if I let a bunch of busters make me drop out. Can’t stop won’t stop I’m still in the game baby!
‘Write in Joseph Afroman Foreman VOTE FRO 202Fr4oe 🇺🇸 WEED SHALL OVERCOME.’
In another post, he shared: ‘It cost $15 million to be on every ballot in every state. I’m on the ballot in a few states but everybody can write in the empty space. Joseph Afroman Foreman and together.’
The Afroman for President website reads: ‘Reflect on this: Are you in a better place today than you were four years ago?
‘This November, I’m pursuing my passion to normalize and legalize marijuana by standing as your Cannabis Commander-in-Chief!
‘I’ve tirelessly championed the cause of normalizing and legalizing cannabis for over two decades. Now, it’s our moment to enact tangible reforms. Join me in my bid for the presidency, where I pledge to drive real change.
‘This includes advocating for Medical Marijuana Nationwide, pushing forward Federal Marijuana Banking Legislation, and ensuring that Federal employees holding a medical license can access treatment without fear of repercussion.’
He announced his presidential intentions in 2022 before confirming that he was really running in August 2023 on a pro-marijuana legalisation platform.
Despite the lyrics in Because I Got High detailing someone’s life getting worse from smoking too much weed, Foreman is a huge advocate of making cannabis use legal across the entire US.
After his initial success at just 26, he signed a six-album deal with Universal Records but this was terminated after the label repeatedly rejected his tracks.
Foreman’s fame coincided with the tragedy of 9/11 and he said he struggled to sing ‘silly’ songs at the time but couldn’t do more serious topics.
Tim Ramenofsky, the founder of T-Bone Records and the producer who discovered Afroman, told Vice that Universal almost tried to prevent the rapper from smoking so much weed.
‘The music business came to a crashing halt after 9/11, and I think Universal was just trimming the fat,’ he shared.
‘Universal had kind of had it with us, at one point they brought Joseph and I into a meeting and told us to “Please stop smoking weed”. That was b******t.
The Because I Got High guy should smoke weed when he wants to smoke weed. Nobody minds seeing the Because I Got High guy, high.’
Mostly Foreman has stayed out of the news, touring and releasing music when it suits him – except for one incident in 2015.
He was performing in Mississippi when a woman got onto the stage and approached him from behind but the rapper ended up punching him in the face.
Afterwards, he apologised stating he thought it was another audience member who had been causing issues but would take anger management courses.
In 2022, his house in Ohio was raided over accusations of kidnapping and drug trafficking but nothing was found by the police.
The officers involved sued him over a music video, claiming he had defamed them which the rapper then filed a counterclaim against.
The case he improperly used the officer’s likeness for commercial purposes was dismissed but the defamation case is set to go to trial.