2 Chainz and Four-Finger Ring Brand Owner Speak on Arrest

2 Chainz was in two cuffs briefly yesterday when he was arrested at LaGuardia Airport in New York for allegedly carrying brass knuckles. However, it was later revealed that it was simply a four-finger ring. Following the incident, the Def Jam-signed rapper spoke with MTV to explain what happened, and XXLMag.com caught up with the owner of the brand, Dope Couture.

"They tried to assassinate my character, they tried to assassinate my swag," 2 Chainz told MTV News. "It was just a negative dilemma earlier where someone misconstrued a piece of jewelry for a weapon and stuff." He also said that, in addition to confiscating the particular piece, they took the Louis Vuitton bag where he keeps all of his jewelry.

Once they took him to jail, the officers began to understand that they were dealing with a rap star. “Me just trying to explain my occupation and then when they finally got to the jail and everybody knew who I was, then they started calling their kids and putting me on the phone with their kids. It was like a weird experience," the Atlanta native continued, adding that he spent up to nine hours locked up before he was let go and hopped on a plane to make a scheduled performance in North Carolina.

The ring in question is a four-finger ring that reads “Dope,” with one letter appearing on each finger. The piece is made by street wear brand Dope Couture, and XXLMag.com caught up with the owner to help better understand the ring and the incident.

“The ring is not brass knuckles, but it’s up to interpretation,” says Matte Fields, who founded Dope Couture in 2007, and was once arrested himself at LAX for carrying the same ring that got 2 Chainz in trouble. “If the cops wanna call it brass knuckles, they can. And at TSA, when you’re going through the airport and everything is on high alert anyways, they will call it brass knuckles just on principle, to make examples out of people. They made an example out of me, they made an example out of 2 Chainz. I got caught with the four finger at LAX and it was a felony.”

Fields said that incidents like this aren’t a rarity in Los Angeles. “It’s crazy, because it’s almost a phenomenon,” he continued. “At LAX, in their room of shit to not bring on a plane, the have the Dope four-finger ring. I know because I’ve had customers call me up. After my incident, we put warnings on them saying, ‘This can be interpreted by TSA and police as a weapon, so please use caution.’”

Potential run ins with the law notwithstanding, Fields is excited that he and his brand are helping usher in a new wave of the vintage piece. “People haven’t really seen the four-finger ring come back into style—we’re trying to bring it back,” he explained. “Guys are rocking more jewelry than ever, so why not give them the most masculine ring. It let’s people know you’re not about that bullshit.”

Chainz felt similarly when he spoke with MTV. "People weren't doing four-finger rings and all that; I just like to set myself apart,” he said. “I definitely wasn't trying to beat nobody up on the airplane or nothing.”

“It’s behind me now.” —Adam Fleischer (@AdamXXL)