A win for Afroman is a win for new music.
Fresh off his victory in court against officers in the Ohio’s Adams County Sheriff’s department, the charismatic MC has released a response/victory track with “Batteram Hymn of the Police Whistleblower.” Decked out in the same snazzy American flag suit he wore in court, Afroman spends the five-minute clip detailing the entire case in deliberate, utterly absurd detail.
It’s very much a diss track (just take out the hard-hitting beat for a janky guitar appropriating “Battle Hymn of the Republic”). And just like any proper diss track, Aforman has targets a plenty, including likening Judge Roy E. Gabbert to Droopy; claiming that the sheriff’s deputies stole his money; and taking prosecutor David Kelly to task for, among other things, “turning to jelly” during court proceedings. Is this song an absolutely bonkers encapsulation of the modern, massively broken criminal justice system? Yes. But is it also super endearing and vindicating in all the right ways? God yes.
Check out the clip below. And if a five-minute song wasn’t enough, Afroman also released a statement in the video’s description:
“Unconfidential informant lied to Police to get out of some trouble Adam County Sheriff officers made a mistake by believing the lie Raided my house found nothing refused to pay for the damages and filed a lawsuit against me Afroman for exercising my freedom of speech! This is me holding trial in one song. I hope you enjoy it.”
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As previously reported, a jury sided with Afroman last week in a civil lawsuit brought by sheriff’s deputies, who accused him of both defamation and invasion of privacy for mocking them in several of his music videos.
In August 2022, police raided Afroman’s home on unfounded suspicions of drug trafficking and kidnapping. In retaliation, the “Because I Got High” rapper released several music videos aimed at the officers, including one called “Lemon Pound Cake,” which included home security footage of the raid. The “Lemon Pound Cake” video has been viewed more than three million times to date.
The plaintiffs (four deputies, two sergeants, and one detective) said that they suffered “emotional distress, embarrassment, ridicule, loss of reputation, and humiliation” as a result of Afroman’s videos. However, it took a jury less than a day to rule in favor of Afroman, finding him not liable for any of the claims filed against him.
