By Tai Saint Louis and Roman Wolfe
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has dropped drug charges against Long Beach rapper Warren G., according to reports.
The rapper set the record straight about reports of his recent arrest in an exclusive interview with AllHipHop.com.
Warren G., born Warren Griffin, was arrested in Hollywood around 2:00 am on Sunday (June 8).
The driver of the car, Ryan Butler, was stopped for allegedly running a red light.
Officers found Butler was driving with an expired license and upon searching the vehicle, Los Angeles police officers discovered an undetermined amount of marijuana and cash in the trunk of the vehicle.
“I was a passenger, I wasn’t driving," Warren G. told AllHipHop.com. "And we didn’t run a red light. We just happened to be in a long line of traffic on Hollywood Boulevard and got caught in the intersection. The whole thing was bogus."
When Warren, as the passenger, was unable to provide officers with details about the origins or ownership of the drugs, both he and Butler, 29, were taken into custody and charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell.
They were released approximately eight hours later on $20,000 bail each.
Warren G. is set to appear in court on July 3 to face the charges associated with the arrest.
“From what I’m hearing, what they said at the police station, it wasn’t even an ounce,” Warren G. revealed to AllHipHop.com. “They basically was just f**king with me because I’m Warren G. and they just wanted to get the publicity for arresting me.”
The Grammy-nominated is currently working on his sixth solo album, The G Files which is due out in September.
He expressed disappointed at the local media’s eagerness to report negative incident, one of the few in his 20-year-career.
“It’s not right,” Warren lamented. “They haven’t looked at the positive things that I do, like going down and talking to the kids in gang prevention programs. They don’t look at the things I do, like going down to the juvenile halls and talking to the kids. I do a lot of positive things. So for them to even say that I had marijuana is bogus. I could see if I had done something, but I didn’t do nothing.”
Warren G.’s current project is the Warren G Music Studio and Learning Center, a new program he is establishing with the city of Long Beach.
The facility will serve as an alternative to the loss of music curriculums in many area schools.
The Center will be housed in a space donated by the city of Long Beach, which will provide students the resources to not only master the instruments of their choice, but to also learn about production and the various career opportunities in the entertainment industry.
“I’m trying to get involved with the schools, ‘cause they’re cutting a lot of the music programs,” Warren G. told AllHipHop.com. “So I wanted to be able to open up the doors so kids can come and learn the saxophone or the piano, or learn to engineer and learn Pro-Tools. You know, or learn about being a manager, learn about publishing. Just anything you would want to know about music.”
An opening date for the center will be determined once Warren G. and Long Beach officials have settled on a location.
The first single from Warren G.'s upcoming album The G Files is titled “Ring Tone.”