Released: September 12, 2000

Featuring: Quarter Peace Quartet

Songwriter: Quarter Peace Quartet Afroman

Producer: Afroman

[Intro]
Yeah I be actin' crazy, rappin' nasty
But don't get me wrong, I got sense
I'ma thank God on this song man
This song is dedicated to all the homeboys that almost died
But for some strange coincidental
Ironic reason you lived through it homeboy
But I'm here to tell you man
It's not a coincidence and it's not ironic
God got a plan and purpose for your life man
The Quarter Peace Quartet gon' help me sing it right about now, uh
{*chicken cluck*}

[Hook: Quarter Peace Quartet]
God has (come on y'all) smiled on me (yeah)
He has set me free (like when them bullets just fly past you)
Ohhh God has smiled on me and He's been good to me (yeah, uh)

[Verse 1]
Before I was a wild juvenile
I used to be a mild Christian young child
I used to seek and seek, search and search
Analyze everybody in my church
A 1-2, I've seen a lot of hypocrites, religious fakers

Deacon whore mongers and offer takers
When I turned thirteen I thought church was fake
I took all I could take so I took a little break
I went to the world, bought a geri curl
And some crack to slice so I can do my own thang
The street life I didn't understand good
So I started gangbangin' to prove my manhood
Yeah, had fun packin' the gun
The baddest kid on the block was a Christian son
Went to the county jail not once but twice
Gamblin' with my life with the dealin' dice
{*chicken cluck*}

[Hook: Quarter Peace Quartet]
God has smiled on me (yeah)
He has set me free (haha yeah)
Ohhh God has smiled on me and He's been good to me
(uh, yeah)

[Verse 2]
I got released in '94
Told my mamma I don't wanna get in trouble no mo'
I wanna find a job, obtain some wealth
Be independent like you and take care of myself
{*chicken cluck*}
I stopped bangin' (yeah) I really quit
But not the people I got into it wit'
Back in the day from Palmdale to L.A
They got beef wit me homie up until this day
To make a long story short I stepped out the tub
Walked around the corner to the local night club
Sittin' at a table, just doin' my thang
This when I got approached by this rival gang
His gang and my gang just got into it (just got into it)
I tried to explain I didn't do it (uh)
I told ya bro, since '94
I been straight man, I don't mess around no mo'
{*chicken cluck*}

[Hook: Quarter Peace Quartet]
God has smiled on me
He has set me free (can you sing it again?)
Ohhh God has (yeah) smiled on me and He's been good to me

[Verse 3]
You know what he said man? he got smart with me
He said call the mortuary, order some flowers
You quit your game but we ain't never quit ours
{*faint chicken cluck*}
It got excitin', we started fist fightin'
Like Mike Tyson I was scratchin' and bitin' {*chicken cluck*}
A bunch of them started mobbin' me (mobbin' me)
Threw me on the floor and started robbin' me (robbin' me)
The things that they took from me wasn't nothin' major

Wallet, walkman, cheap little pager
They took my food stamps, took my knife
Took me and tried to take my life {*chicken cluck*}
I tried to fight back but my efforts was useless
Ain't know need to makin' up excuses, hey man
I was on the ground (ground) gettin' beat down (down)
Eight different people kickin' me around
I thought about all the bad things I did
When I ran from God as a little bitty kid
No sign, no reason, no clue, no warnin'
No fair nobody cared, 2 o'clock in the mornin'
Heavy licks they was layin' on me
But at the same time my momma, she was prayin' for me
Lights from the helicopter filled the air
And the police cars came everywhere, uh
I told Jesus "I don't deserve You
But let me live and I'll serve You"
God has smiled on me

[Hook: Quarter Peace Quartet]
God has (come on y'all) smiled on me
He has set me free (can you sing it again?)
Ohhh God has (yeah) smiled on me and He's been good to me

[Outro]
Yeah man, uh, sometimes when I'm drinkin' man
I think about my close calls, you know what I'm sayin'
Times I almost got shot
Times I was commitin' crimes, almost got caught by the police
Man I think about car accidents that never happened
I think about homeboys I speak to one day
Next day they catch 50-60 years
Maybe even rest in peace, you know what I'm sayin'
So check this out man, yeah, we still alive, right?
God ain't through with us
So let's put it down man, stop all this madness
You know what I'm sayin'
Go on take care of some situations we need to take care of
And to all the homeboys that robbed me, hey man I'm still alive
So if y'all be so kind, go down there and buy my tape man
That'll make up them food stamps y'all took from me right
{*chicken cluck*}

[Quarter Peace Quartet]
Amazin' grace (haha) how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see
I'm tellin' you God has (He done smiled on me) smiled on me
(He done smiled on me) He has set me free (can you sing it again?)
Ohh God has (yeah) smiled on me (smiled on me now)
And He's been good to me (can you sing that verse?)
Amazin' grace (amazin' grace)
How sweet the sound (how sweet the sound)
That saved a wretch like me (I was lost, can You help me?)
I once was lost (yeah) but now I'm found (uh)
Was blind but now I see

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.