Released: September 12, 2000

Songwriter: Afroman

Producer: Afroman

[Intro]
A few words of inspiration
This song is dedicated to hustlers standing on the curb
Smokin herb, movin weight from the inner city to the suburbs
Paranoid of jail, pocket full of yall, just waitin on another sale
Sip your beer wipe your tears encourage your peers its gonna be alright

[Hook]
Everything is gonna be alright
Sell your dope! Make your money every night
Them brothers 'round the corner they wanna start a fight
Sell your dope! Keep on hustlin until your money's right
You and your girl, you might argue every night
Sell your dope especially when your pockets are tight
You can't find a job because your skin ain't white
Sell your dope brother you know this world ain't right

[Verse 1]
Hey wussup lil inchworm
I hope this letter make you feel just a little bit better
Got your t-shirt picked your khakis creased
So you can be G'd up when you get released
Me and my homeboys put together some chippers
To buy some beer and a couple of strippers
You can use my car till you find ya own
I can't wait till you get home but later on
That money that you get from your GR check
Should be enough to put you back on deck
Now I know you on parole but don't be scared
This time we'll be prepared
Fuck the feds don't say shit to your broad
Keep your dope stashed in your neighbors yard
When they kick in the door with they steel toed boot
Won't find nothin but a lawsuit, baby baby

[Hook]
Everything is gonna be aright
SELL YOUR DOPE, Make your money every night
Them brothers around the corner they wanna start a fight
SELL YOUR DOPE keep on hustlin till your moneys right
You and your girl, you might argue every night
Sell your dope especially when your pockets tight
You can't find a job because your skin ain't white
Sell your dope brother you know this world ain't right

[Verse 2]
Your baby momma she might trip
Cuz you hangin with a Crip tryin to clock your grip
She can't help a black man out
But when bills come around she's got her hand out
Now the baby needs pampers, Similac...
Plus you need rims for your Cadillac
Ignore your girl when she starts trippin
Keep them kilos flippin Dayton's dipin
We can expand by a little land
Hand the dope game down to the next man
Buy a little business clean the money
Look at the cops funny hey hey hey
Frontin in a Caddy or a beat up Taurus
Got the baby gangsters sellin the shit for us
We can dance underwater and not get wet
Sell crack on the internet but not yet

Everything is gonna be aright SELL YOUR DOPE
Make your money every night
Them brothers around the corner they wanna start a fight
SELL YOUR DOPE keep on hustlin till your moneys right
You and your girl, you might argue every night
Sell your dope especially when your pockets tight
You can't find a job because your skin ain't white
Sell your dope brother you know this world ain't right

Them brothers around the corner they wanna start a fight
SELL YOUR DOPE keep on hustlin till your moneys right
You and your girl, you might argue every night
Sell your dope especially when your pockets are tight
You can't find a job cuz your skin ain't white
Sell your dope brother you know this world ain't right

1, 2, 3 breakdown
[Singing and talking]

Early in the morning when I get outta bed
I chop up some quarter pieces and get ready for my cluck heads
I sell it all day baby, I sell it all night long
Till the 15th comes around and everybody is all gone
I go out and buy some activator turn my fro into a jheri curl
Put the Daytona's on my lac and then I go scoop up my girl
OH! Baby don't try to change me if I go to the pen
Cuz when the white man let me go I'm gonan do the same old thing again, yeah!

[Hook]
Everything is gonna be aright
SELL YOUR DOPE, Make your money every night
Them brothers 'round the corner they wanna start a fight
SELL YOUR DOPE keep on hustlin till your moneys right
You and your girl argue every night
Sell your dope especially when your pockets are tight
You can't find a job because your skin ain't white
Sell your dope brother you know this world ain't right

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.