Afroman’s music has seen a 500% increase in streaming following his legal victory over sheriff’s deputies in Adams County, Ohio, who sued him for defamation.
According to Billboard, his discography logged averaged 1.12 million on-demand streams in the United States in the four days leading up to his civial trial, from March 13th through 16th. However, in the four days after the jury reached the verdict in his favor (March 20th-23rd), Afroman’s streams increased by 511% to 6.8 million official streams. His paid digital downloads also jumped by 2,113%.
The biggest driver of the surge was “Lemon Pound Cake” (naturally), the song inspired by a piece of cake so good that a sheriff who kicked down his door stopped to eye a slice. The track soared 9,353% to 2.12 million official on-demand streams in the United States and spiked 126,300% in digital downloads.
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Even Afroman’s iconic song “Because I Got High” is seeing renewed attention. The Grammy-nominated track drew more than 600,000 official on-demand streams in the United States after the verdict, marking a 133% increase.
Afroman had gone to trial after sheriff’s deputies claimed he used their likenesses without permission in both music videos and merchandise, plus made false statements about them after they raided his home in 2022 on a search warrant for alleged drug trafficking, kidnapping, and drug possession.
Deputy Randolph L. Waters Jr. testified in court that the rapper’s lyrics and videos caused him serious personal and emotional harm, claiming that they “caused tremendous pain in my life.” Another deputy, Lisa Phillips, cried when she was on the stand while the music video for his track “Licc’em Low Lisa” was played for the court.
Afroman argued that his music was protected by free speech. After his legal victory, he released the track, “Batteram Hymn of the Police Whistleblower.”
What better way to celebrate a massive win than with a new tour? Afroman recently announced the “Freedom of Speech” tour, which kicked off on March 24th in Lafayette, Indiana. The outing will take him through cities like Orange Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and Honolulu before wrapping up on October 10th in Lorain, Ohio. Get tickets here.