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Chief Keef Arrested For Smoking Marijuana in Georgia Hotel, Cops Say

By Jen Sabella | May 21, 2013 9:19am | Updated on May 21, 2013 10:46am
 Chicago-based rapper Chief Keef posted a picture of his mugshot on Instagram Monday.
Chicago-based rapper Chief Keef posted a picture of his mugshot on Instagram Monday.
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Instagram/Chief Keef

CHICAGO — Chief Keef was arrested in an upscale hotel near Atlanta Monday after cops caught him with weed, police said.

The 17-year-old Chicago rapper posted a photo of his mugshot to Instagram early Tuesday and tweeted "Jus Got Out Of Dekalb County jail In Atlanta Mad As f---."

Keef, whose real name is Keith Cozart, was in LeMeridien Hotel with several others Monday afternoon when hotel security "observed smoke and a smell of marijuana from a room" and called the police, according to the Dunwoody Police Department.

Officers spoke with the rapper and arrested him for "disorderly conduct regarding marijuana use," police said in a statement.

He was released after midnight on Tuesday, according to his Twitter account.

The rising star was released from juvenile detention in March after serving 60 days for violating his probation from a previous gun charge — when he pointed a gun at Chicago police officers.

Prosecutors said in January that Keef is a member of a faction of the Black Disciples street gang known as "Lamron" — which is Normal spelled backward. Authorities say it's a gang reference to a stretch of Normal Boulevard in Englewood, Chief Keef's old neighborhood.

Prosecutors brought the probation violation case against the Interscope Records star after he appeared in a Pitchfork.com video holding a rifle at a New York gun range.

Though Keef's song lyrics address gangs and guns, his lawyer said they shouldn't be taken seriously and that his client isn't the same person the public sees.

"You can't really look at the video and say that's who this young man is," Keef's lawyer, Dennis Berkson, said. "You have to remember he's 17 years old. And he speaks about things he knows. He talks a language that a lot of young people listen to, as evidenced by sales of his records and his popularity on YouTube."