Released: December 20, 2006

Songwriter: Afroman

Producer: Afroman

On the first day of Christmas, the police sent to me, a S.W.A.T team in a pear tree

On the second day of Christmas, the police sent to me, two black eyes, and a S.W.A.T team in a pear tree

On the third day of Christmas, the police sent to me, three bench warrants, two black eyes, and a S.W.A.T team in a pear tree

On the fourth day of Christmas, the police sent to me, four cops calling all cars, three bench warrants, two black eyes, and a S.W.A.T team in a pear tree

On the fifth day of Christmas, the police sent to me, FIVE YEARS IN THE PEN! Four cops calling all cars, three bench warrants, two black eyes, and a S.W.A.T team in a pear tree

On the sixth day of Christmas, the police sent to me, six cops pepper spraying, FIVE YEARS IN THE PEN! Four cops calling all cars, three bench warrants, two black eyes, and a S.W.A.T team in a pear tree

On the seventh day of Christmas, the police sent to me, six Navy SEALs swimming, six pep-pep(messes up and bursts into laughter, "I guess they stop pepper spraying"), FIVE YEARS IN THE PEN! Four cops calling all cars, three bench warrants, two black eyes, and a S.W.A.T team in a pear tree(people in background improvising pepper spray sounds and cackling)

On the eighth day of Christmas, the police sent to me, eight lawyers lying, seven Navy SEALs swimmin, six cops pepper sprayin, FIVE YEARS IN THE PEN! (rhythm falling apart, "fuck it!") Four cops calling all cars, three bench warrants, two black eyes, and a S.W.A.T team in a pear tree

On the ninth day of Christmas, the police sent to me, nine ladies dancing, eight lawyers lying..sssev...(rhythm completely gone out the window, "yo Jody, slow your ass down! Shit! Slow down!"), four cops calling all cars, three bench warrants, two black eyes, and a S.W.A.T team in a pear tree ("yeah, I got your 12 days of Christmas!")(completely skips days)

On the twelfth day of Christmas, the police sent to me, (mumbling) twelve days in the county jail, man fuck the 12 Days of Christmas, we gotta come up with some other Christmas songs!

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.