2 Chainz has been found not guilty of drugs charges, after a Maryland judge decided there was insufficient evidence that the illicit materials were his.
The rapper had been arrested in February when Maryland state police stopped the rapper's van for speeding and smelled marijuana. A search revealed a backpack in the van contained a marijuana grinder and trace amounts of the drug.
The grinder was "clearly" in 2 Chainz's backpack, Talbot county district court judge William H Adkins said in his verdict. But the bag had allegedly been packed by one of the rapper's bodyguards, Harold Folsome Jr, when they were at a hotel in Baltimore. According to the Star Democrat newspaper, Folsome told the court he had just stuffed the backpack with items from around the hotel suite. The grinder wasn't 2 Chainz's, but it wasn't Folsome's either. "Whoever left it in the room, I guess that's who it belonged to," he said.
"It belonged to somebody in that room," the judge agreed. "As for who, I don't know." Without proof that the contents of the backpack belonged to 2 Chainz, he acquitted the 35-year-old on all charges. "Boxing gloves I beat the trial," 2 Chainz tweeted.
2 Chainz released his major-label debut, Based On a TRU Story, last August. It debuted at No 1 in the US. Earlier this month, he revealed he has begun working on a new LP, as well as collaborating with Kanye West at a recording session in Paris.
