Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - Afroman is getting sued for this...

Episode Date: June 18, 2025

In August 2022, Ohio sheriff’s deputies carried out a forceful and destructive raid on rapper Afroman’s home in Adams County—though no charges were filed after finding no substantial evidence of drugs or kidnapping. In response, Afroman—real name Joseph Foreman—churned the raid footage into music tracks and videos, including “Lemon Pound Cake” and “Will You Help Me Repair My Door,” using the visuals as commentary on his experience.

This famous rapper is now being sued by the police, and it could cost him a lot of money. Now, his name is Afro Man, and Afro Man's 48 during this time, living in Ohio, and he's a rapper, probably most famous for his song, Because I Got High, Because I Got High, Because I Got High, Because I Got High, Something Like That, but one day in 2022, something crazy happens to him. Suddenly, Kaboom, officers from the Sheriff's Department bust his front door down, and they start storming through his house and these officers, they're tearing through all his stuff. They're going through his clothes, they're looking through his furniture, they're clearing out all his rooms, they go through his CD collection, they find a bunch of cash and they start going through it. Now, Afro-Man isn't

actually home during this time. He's off in Chicago because he's scheduled to do a show there, but back in Ohio, he has security cameras all over his house. So he's watching helplessly from his phone as these cops go through all his shit. Why is the sheriff's department suddenly raiding this famous rapper's house? Well, apparently they're in contact with some kind of confidential informant. And this informant, I guess, accused Afro-Man of kidnapping, claiming that he keeps women locked up in a basement dungeon in his house. And they also accuse him of drug trafficking.

Now, to be fair, Afro-Man is known to smoke a bit of Zaza, and he's very open about this. I mean, look at the titles of some of his songs. smoke on it, enjoyed your bud. Who wanna smoke? Dope fiend. Smoke a blunt. Smoke two blunts. Let's get high tonight. Smoke a blunt with you. I smoke weed. Smoke some green. Hit this blunt with me. Sell your dope. And my personal favorite, deck my balls. Which has nothing to do with smoking. I just think that's a funny title. Now, that being said, just because Afro-Man has a lot of songs about smoking Zaza doesn't make him a drug trafficker and it certainly doesn't make him a kid. kidnapper. So anyway, police go through all his shit and they tear it up and they bust his front gate and two of his doors. They also disconnect his security cameras while they're there, which is just very suspicious. But unfortunately for them, during their raid, they don't really find much. A few roaches, some small pipes, and $5,000 in cash. But they don't find any large quantities of

Zaza and they certainly don't find any kidnapping victims in a basement dungeon. His house doesn't even have a basement. Now, eventually, Afro-Man gets on the phone with one of the officers, and they're still at his house. And he asks them if they found anything, like, is he going to get arrested? And they're like, nah. And he also asks them if they're going to help repair his door that they busted in and his gate that they broke, and they're also like, nah, we're not required to do that. And the worst part of this whole thing is, there's not much Afro-Man can do at this point. The warrant they had is legit and signed by a judge.

And he apparently can't sue the police for damaging his home because police are legally protected by qualified immunity or whatever. Not only that, he finds out it's going to cost him an estimated $20,000 to repair his gate, his doors, and anything else they tore up. This is like the worst day for him. So, now what's he gonna do? Well, he's a rapper, so he's gonna get creative. And he decides to get to work in his store. in his studio and make several songs about this unjust police raid. And these songs are not subtle.

Like they include, will you help me repair my door? Why are you disconnecting my video camera? And one song called Lemon Pound Cake. Lemon Pound Cake song, he criticizes this overweight sheriff who he caught on security footage eyeballing the lemon pound cake in his kitchen. He gonna take a double take on the pound cake. He gonna look at the Pound Cake and he and he and he and

No way to shoot me or cut him a slice of that lemon pound cake. He backed up. He wants him to that pound cake, Mike. Now, I don't want to play too much of his songs because, you know, copyright and all that, but they're great. And in kind of a genius move, for each of them, he makes a music video and he uses the actual security footage of the raid in these videos. All right, you get the point.

You can go listen to Afro Man's songs if you want. So, about a month after the raid, Afro Man puts these songs out on YouTube. on Spotify everywhere. And kaboom, they kind of blow up for him. 8 million streams is no joke. And he's loving this success. Like, what are the odds that he would be able to turn this situation in his favor? And because these songs blow up, he gets creative again.

And he starts selling merchandise with the officer's faces on them. And these are images he pulled from his security footage. Like, here's Officer Poundcake, here's a guy he calls Private Pyle, and he's got a few others. He even auctions off the door they kicked into his fans. I think someone actually bought it for $2,100. I mean, you can see Afro Man here autographing it. So clearly, he's trying to make the most of this situation.

Like, he's selling merchandise, he's rebuilding his reputation as a fun-loving guy and not a drug trafficking kidnapper. And it seems like he's going to just move on with his life and forget about this whole thing. Until. Here's the thing, though. The Sheriff's Department is not too happy that Afro-Man is capitalizing on all this.

And they especially don't like it that some of the officers ended up in some music videos and on some T-shirts. And so, bam, the Sheriff's Department files a lawsuit against him and his record label. A legal battle over privacy for officers involved in a raid. At the center of it, rapper Afro-Man. And so these officers are claiming that he defamed them and that he violated their right to privacy. by using their images for commercial purposes. And I don't know what privacy they were expecting when they busted into his house, but this is what they're claiming. They are public figures.

If they was really concerned about their privacy, they wouldn't be putting their name on a public lawsuit. And so they're seeking $700,000 collectively in damages as well as any profits from the music videos and from the merchandise. Meanwhile, no charges were ever filed against Afro-Man, because, you know, he didn't do anything wrong. And so the Sheriff's Department finally agrees to release all his seized property, including that $5,000 cash they took from his house. Now, Afro-Man, he doesn't trust the police at this point, because why would he? And he suspects that they probably pocketed some of the money they seized from him. And so he goes to the Sheriff's Department to pick up the seized money, and he takes a local news

crew with him to document the whole thing. And when they get there, they realize that in fact, $400 is missing from his stash. And this all happens in front of the news crew. We watched it being counted out of sealed evidence bags and $400 in cash was missing. And this suggests that when police seized his money, one of them did actually steal $400 from him. And if that's true, that's real fucked up. I mean, they raid an innocent man's house, break his stuff, and steal his money. And so, of course, this part of the story makes the local news, and the sheriff's department has to, like, put out a statement saying, no, no, we just miscounted. And I believe Afro Man does eventually get his $400 back. And so, as of now, in 2025, the lawsuit against Afro Man is still ongoing,

although the claims that he invaded the officer's privacy have been dismissed. However, the judge did allow the claims of defamation to move forward. So he's still very much being sued. And you know, hope he wins.