Released: July 12, 2013

Songwriter: Afroman

Producer: Afroman

[Intro]
Hey, mama (mama), I'ma tell you why (I'ma tell you why)
I can't go to Horace Mann Junior High

[Verse 1]
Raymond Elementary was all good, 'cause it was in the Eight-Trey neighborhood. Horace Mann Junior High was all bad, so many Rolling 60's it made me mad. The Rolling 60's, the rival gang, swamp water deep doing thay thang, Horace Mann Junior High two blocks from my house, no Glocks. I had to run like a mouse, a lot of Trey's died and went to the pen, claimin' Rolling 60's was a popular trend. Salt and Pepper came out from the polygram camp with a song named "Tramp". The Rolling 60's called the Eight-Trey's Tramps. They bumped Salt an' Pepper with major amps, the Eight-Trey's called the 60's sissies, even since the 60's

[Hook]
I can't go to Horace Mann, I can't go to Horace Mann
I can't go to Horace Mann, You don't understand
I can't go to Horace Mann, I can't go to Horace Mann
I can't go to Horace Mann, You don't understand

[Verse 2]
Horace Mann, 2 blocks from the gansta's ride, but they bustin' Rolling 60's from the west side. My hood is close but the O's (?) are deep. One wrong move and they'll play me cheap. I really didn't bang but then again the Tramp talk was gettin' under my skin. One day before my homeroom class, this dude hit up every person he pass, he got to me, I said "ETG", He said "OK, We'll see". I thought we were going to fight. But he wasn't trippin', he just sat tight. Lunch time came I was grabbin' a bite, I spotted homie tellin' every 60 insight, where I was from and who I was. I can't go to Horace Mann, cuz

[Hook]
I can't go to Horace Mann, I can't go to Horace Mann
I can't go to Horace Mann, You don't understand
I can't go to Horace Mann, I can't go to Horace Mann
I can't go to Horace Mann, You don't understand

[Verse 3]
I went to school the very next day. On alert, 'cause I'm from Eight-Trey. Bust Six-O, I was outside my class, Starched up Khakis hangin' off his ass, he said, "cuz, I heard you was a Tramp", I socked him six times like a boxin' champ. I ran, I left Horace Mann, runnin' fast as I can, please understand, it felt like a track meet down on sixty ninth street, just a little kid tryna keep from gettin' his ass beat. All the rolling 60's saw what I did, the whole school chasin' that Eight-Trey kid, when I got to western they let me go, all the Eight-Treys at the liquor sto'. I crossed the street, they shook my hand, I said "Cuz, I can't go to Horace Mann"

[Hook]
I can't go to Horace Mann, I can't go to Horace Mann
I can't go to Horace Mann, You don't understand
I can't go to Horace Mann, I can't go to Horace Mann
I can't go to Horace Mann, You don't understand

[Verse 4]
Back to school, day number three, everybody know I'm from ETG, so I stay low-key and on my toes watchin' out for the Six-O's. No Rolling 60's the coast was clear, I hit the bathroom and unzipped my gear, it took so long to drain my donkey-kong, I felt something was wrong, see for I could finish relieving myself I looked and I wasn't believing myself, eighty-three Rolling 60's walked on in, now the rat-pat was about to begin. I heard a loud noise, I heard it a lot to tell you the truth I thought I got shot, I was layin' in bed and told my wife, "The North-Ridge earthquake saved my life"

[Hook]
I can't go to Horace Mann, I can't go to Horace Mann
I can't go to Horace Mann, You don't understand
I can't go to Horace Mann, I can't go to Horace Mann
I can't go to Horace Mann, You don't understand

[Outro]
Hey, mama, I'ma tell you why
I can't go to Horace Mann Junior High
You don't understand

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.