Afroman was on tour last August when he learned his Ohio home was being raided by local law enforcement. Officers obtained a warrant after getting a tip there were drugs, paraphernalia, money and weapons associated with drug trafficking and kidnapping in his home.
Afroman’s his ex-wife and kids, who live nearby, went over to the residence shortly after the scene started to unfold. She recorded parts of the raid on her phone, while other scenes were captured by Afroman’s security system. No charges came from the search yet Afroman was left with more than $20,000 in damages. He also accused police of stealing more than $5,000 in cash during the raid, which he says were earnings from performances. Needless to say, he was infuriated by the entire situation.
“I wake up for that human leak in the morning and I’m thinking I wanna get home and get back to my life,” Afroman tells AllHipHop. “I’m really not in control of my world until I get home and close the gates to my farm. I hate leaving it even though I’m going to gigs, so I was ready to get home. Then I said my little prayer and I heard something say, ‘Why take a six-hour trip with only three hours worth of sleep?’ Something said go back to sleep.”
@ogafroman Cops break into Afroman’s house for Lemon Pound Cake 😂 #fyp #foryourpage #policeoftiktok #afroman #cops #officer
♬ original sound – Afroman
Afroman says he woke up just before check-out time, packed up his things and headed out. Along the way, he stopped at Smoothie King. “I got me one of those big Caribbean Waves and life was just good,” he adds. But then his phone started blowing up.
“I get a phone call that the police are everywhere,” he continues. “Now just think about this. What if I would’ve left at six o’clock that morning when I first woke up. I would’ve been home. They would’ve did it to me, man. What was going through my mind was, I was marveling at what I believe to be the navigation of God. God didn’t deliver me from temptation, but he definitely delivered me from the Adams County Sheriff’s Department.”
In true Afroman fashion, he took what could’ve ended in tragedy and turned it into comedy. After posting several surveillance videos of the raid to his Instagram, somebody pointed out one of the officers seemed to zero in on the lemon pound cake sitting on Afroman’s kitchen counter.
“I was angry about the raid,” he says. “But that made me laugh and laugh and laugh. Pretty soon it was a meme and it got like eight million views on TikTok.”
So rather than sulk in anger, Afroman flipped it into a song and video called “Lemon Pound Cake.” Set to The Drifters’ 1964 hit “Under The Boardwalk,” the track makes light of the entire incident. The hook repeats, “Lemon pound cake/He want to put down his glock/Lemon pound cake/Trending on TikTok/Lemon pound cake/He’s a family guy/Lemon pound cake/Got the munchies ’cause he got high.”
But the “Lemon Pound Cake” video and merch Afroman created in response to the violation of his home are now at the center of a lawsuit. In March, seven Adams County police officers filed a lawsuit against the weed-loving rapper, accusing him of causing “emotional distress, embarrassment, ridicule, loss of reputation and humiliation.”
The plaintiffs are seeking all of Afroman’s profits from his use of their personas. That includes proceeds from the songs, music videos and live event tickets, as well as the promotion of the Afroman brand. They also want a court injunction to take down all videos and posts containing their personas.
“These guys kicked out my door,” he says. “What? You think I’m not gonna sing about it? All that money kicked down the door. That money was chasing me down the hallway with my tablet. I couldn’t write it fast enough.”
Despite the lawsuit and its potential outcome, Afroman believes he already won: “I was not going to let them beat my ass like Rodney King.” Afroman will have to go to court in the near future, but that hasn’t deterred him.
“I’m still selling it,” he says with a chuckle. “I hope this case goes on for like 15 years. I’m gonna kick the can as long as I can. I’ll be advertising more. It’s funny. They run up my house with guns and my kids are looking at these men who can destroy me and my response is a rap tape. That makes me feel really weak.
“But when they sued me, I realized my rap tape had more power than their AR-15 and their sheriff badges. They dropped their guns. They crying. I’m beating these cops up. They got stress. You got loss of reputation? You’re the first to know. I’m making another song. I don’t know if I’m going to call it ‘Lemon Pound Cake 2’ or ‘A Lawsuit.’ We about to play with all these things.”
As for how all of this started, Afroman believes it has to do with a woman he used to mess around with.
“I think this girl I had affairs with got in trouble and told them a bunch of exaggerations,” he says. “I’m hearing rumors of rumors. Somebody gotta start telling something. What I’m hearing is this girl was telling them I had girls up in my house like R. Kelly. I got a little farmhouse. It’s kinda pimped out, but I don’t got no dungeons. I’m too high and lazy to do that much work. They lucky I painted the place, you know? I’m like get outta here. I’m not one of those rappers.”
Check back with AllHipHop soon for Part II of the Afroman exclusive.