Released: December 13, 2004

Songwriter: Afroman

Producer: Afroman

[Man talking]
Ok, we got the Birdman in the building (the birdman)
We got Killa in the building (yeah)
We got Young Weezy in the building (Weezy)

[Verse 1: Lil' Wayne]
Nigga it's, B-M, J-R, Weezy baby
Tryna see him, naw, he need to even eighty (shut yo chips up)
And, I ain't speakin G's, I'm talkin M
And I'm walkin like a pimp in (piiiiiimp) them all street tims
Man shorty got more green than a Boston Gems
Green (?) , they don't cost in rims
Wayne appear, nigga put a walls in ya ear
Let ya know a fuckin boss up in here
How much it cost for this here?
How much it cost for this year?
Cuz Me and Stunna bout to buy it
Put yo spoons down, Cash Money off the diet
I pass in a ride on triot, that's traze
But those who was in the days when the teachers was on that pay
I'm raise in the cajun cage, with a bit of amazing grace
And prone to move coke at a amazing pace
Man my daddy super Dave, let's race it
Real not have me, B I'ma win it, I'm a champ

[Chorus: TQ]
In the ghetto life, I'm a ghetto boooooy (ghetto booooooy)
Livin in the ghetto me, in the ghe-tto streeeeeets
(Somebody tell me what's crackin before)
I'm a ghetto life, any second dogg I can blow uuuuuup
For ghetto me, and you best to be watchin me
Ghetto, ghetto, Ghetto Life

[Verse 2: Baby]
Aye, aye, holla at me T-Keez, T-Keezy, Birdman, Birdman
See I ride in them shake (34's) when I'm pimpin these hoes (beyotch!)
It's just that, (TQ:Sunshine City!) when I'm smokin that dro
When it comes to this ice, real livin his life
Get moeny, pimpin hoes, with these ghetto type
Nigga check the background, I got O.G. stripe
Just a hoodrich nigga flippin birds on a bike
Not survive in this world with guns, pahs, and knifes
Pour out, a lil' liquor, mami lost her life
All my niggas in the penitentiary holdin that life
See I'm stunnin for my niggas with this chromed out pipes
This swish interry foreign german lifes (beyotch)
And I keep this big toolie just protect my ice (holla at me nigga)
I act, a damn fool, when I'm full of that white (absolute beyotch)
But it's the Birdman daddy with these ghe-tto stripes
Ghe-tto hood (Uptown), Ghe-tto pipe (9 Millimeter)
Ghe-tto walk (yeah), With my ghe-tto life (Beyotch)

[Chorus: TQ]
In the ghetto life, I'm a ghetto boooooy (ghetto booooooy)
Livin in the ghetto me, in the ghe-tto streeeeeets
I'm a ghetto life, any second dogg I can blow uuuuuup
For ghetto me, and you best to be watchin meeeee
Ghetto, ghetto, I'm a Ghetto Life

[Verse 3: Cam'Ron]
Uh-huh, Diplomats, man listen
Ayyo the duck just born, I need seven more leaders
C-Five, Fo'-Fum, and a Seven-Fo' fever (what else)
Act up though I let the Fo' fever leave ya (leave ya)
Dice game, head crack, Six-Fo' fever (fever)
When I'm in L.A., I got Six-Fo' fever (fever)
Fever for the flava of a six-foot diva (let 'em know)
I told the po to feave her, I'm a bouty crook
Out to juuust, not a chef (?) know how to cook
With the piece stocks, cook up the rocks
Seventh Delenix is hot, I done cook up the block
Send Glocks to ya block, out done cook up yo sspotss
That's how coke for that cook up his watch (what else though?)
I'm one of those, that will look up to Pac (why?)
Cuz when I get pulled over, cook up the cops (damn, follow what)
All they say is, look at his drop (what else?)
Hand on my liscence, look at his watch (fuck em)
But, thug shit dogg, we down with Baby (baby)
We come through clownin baby (baby)
And if we, surrounded babies, ducktape the kids to the wall
Then shoot circle all around the baby, Killa!

[Chorus: TQ]
In the ghetto life, I'm a ghetto boooooy (ghetto booooooy)
Livin in the ghetto me, in the ghe-tto streeeeeets
I'm a ghetto life, any second dogg I can blow uuuuuup
For ghetto me, and you best to be watchin meeeee
Ghetto, ghetto, In a Ghetto Life

[Cam'Ron talking]
It's nothin man, Killa!
Diplomats, Cash Money
Baby, holla!
Jim Jones, Santana, what's good, Roc-a-Fella
(brrrrrrrrr-brrrrrrrr!)

[Man talking]
Birdman
Fly, to hood near you
Then they got 'em cheap (whoo!)
(Yeah, ya know, ya know)
Get that call out one more time
(brrrrrrrr-brrrrrrrrr!) 3x
*beat fades*

Afroman

Joseph ‘Afroman’ Foreman began writing songs and handing them out to his friends on cassette while in the eighth grade. At 25 years old, he released his first album, 1999’s Sell Your Dope. Soon after, he moved from LA to Mississippi with the mission to ‘get away from competition and sell to actual people’, releasing his sophomore album Because I Got High in 2000 on T-Bones Records. Its title track, written hastily after a friend showed up and interrupted him on an ambitious day and insisted they instead get high, was the last song he had recorded for the album. Soon after, Afroman left the music business.

At the same time, the file-sharing software Napster – heavily used at the time to share and distribute music for free – was at its peak of popularity, and the album’s title track became popular with its users. Universal Records caught wind and signed Afroman to a six album deal and released it as a single on July 6, 2001.

“Because I Got High” immediately became one of the most-requested songs across the nation, growing even larger after syndicated morning radio show host Howard Stern began airing it regularly, helping to make it ‘the most requested song on the radio in the country’. Further boosting its popularity was its inclusion in the film (and soundtrack to) Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back and MTV’s eventual agreement to air a modified, less-controversial music video for the song. It peaked at #13 in the US, and topped the charts in ten countries overseas. Its album The Good Times reached #10 in the US.