Blunt talk from Afroman

Afroman is flying high these days -- and it has nothing to do with smoking marijuana or any other drugs. The American rapper's maddeningly catchy novelty rap song, Because I Got High, is poised to be one of the summer's breakout hits. It's already being played in heavy circulation on radio stations and is included on the soundtrack of the new movie, Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back. But the success hasn't come without controversy.

Because I Got High lists a number of activities -- cleaning his room, going to court, attending class -- that get derailed because of a little reefer madness. American music station MTV is playing the song, but has reportedly edited out any visual references to marijuana smoking in the video.

Surprisingly, Afroman -- a.k.a. Joseph Foreman -- welcomed the censorship.

"I think it's good publicity and it'll lead people to the actual version," he said. "They're playing it now, they edit this, they edit that, but I've got the actual video on my CD. I mean, anything they do is gonna lead closer and closer to me."

Afroman, 27, said he expected the video to be censored, but added that, "I'm happy that they're playing it. But they're in it for money too and if people are out there buying your record, then, you know, they'll get with the program eventually."

North of the border, MuchMusic said it didn't have a problem airing the original version of the video, which has been playing in medium rotation for the past couple of weeks.

"Man, that's great," said Afroman when told the news. "I'm really happy about them playing it in its entirety, yet at the same time, I can understand why they would want to censor it." Having said that, he also said children could benefit from hearing the song.

"Kids are real people living in the real world," he said. "And eventually they need to know some things. I'm not going to play this song for my kids, but if they happened to be somewhere and they heard it, I would take my time and explain it to them and make sure they had a full understanding. Because those are little people that one day's gonna have to grow up and make their own decisions. A parent can't be there all the kid's life and turn off the radio. One day, that kid's going to be somewhere by himself and it's going to be time for him to make his own decisions."

And while the song is all about smoking pot, the lyrics -- which include the lines, "I messed up my entire life because I got high/I lost my kids and wife because I got high/Now I'm sleeping on the sidewalk and I know why/'Cause I got high" -- seem to be cautioning against drug use.

"I wasn't trying to get on no type of soapbox," insisted Afroman, who said he no longer smokes up. "If they want to put me on a soapbox, I'll go ahead and say, 'You might lose your job like I did if you consume too much time smoking marijuana.' That's not my intention, but if people want to get technical, I did tell the truth. I didn't lie and say 'I smoke weed, and it makes me brilliant; I smoke weed and I discovered the cure for AIDS; and I talked to other life forms on Saturn.' I'm talking about how I'm sleeping on the sidewalk. Well, damn, man, I told the truth."

Because I Got High has vaulted Afroman into stardom, and it came with a lot of hard work and, um, grassroot efforts. For a while, he used to work as a baggage handler at an airport while trying to bang out songs for the radio. He said he would play all sorts of gigs -- he even performed for a small group of people at a party in a farm. "I'd be with my recorders and my microphones kicking cows out," he said.

But the more people he performed for, the more word-of-mouth spread, until he finally got his big break, a song that was actually based on his inability to clean up his room because he was too stoned.

Afroman, who's signed a six-album deal with Universal, said he's surprised at the song's success.

"I knew that if somebody ever had the balls to play it on the air, it could take off," he said. "But I thought that would never happen. It passed all of my expectations. I'm overwhelmed. Right now I'm scared to come out of my room."

If you haven't seen the video to Because I Got High, there are numerous shots of Afroman and others smoking and sniffing a variety of narcotics, topped off with him sitting down with Jay (Jason Mewes) and Silent Bob (Kevin Smith) to smoke a foot-long doobie.

Here are the lyrics to the song:

I was gonna clean my room until I got high

I was gonna get up and find the broom but then I got high

My room is still messed up and I know why