Rapper T.I. Arrested Trying To Get To His Home

STOCKBRIDGE, GA — Atlanta rapper T.I. is claiming he was wrongly arrested early Wednesday while he was trying to get into the gated community where his home is located, according to police.

WSB-TV reports that the rapper, whose legal name is Clifford Harris Jr., was arrested at about 4 a.m. as he was returning home. According to a police report, a security guard wouldn't let Harris into the neighborhood.

He called a friend and the two men argued with the guard. "Don't you know who I am?" T.I. said, according to police.

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Henry County Police officers were called to the scene and T.I. and his friend were arrested on charges of disorderly conduct and public drunkenness. The friend also had a warrant out for his arrest, according to police.

In a statement posted Wednesday on Facebook, T.I.'s lawyer, Steve Sadow, said the rapper should not have been arrested.

"The guard was sound asleep when Tip arrived at the guardhouse," Sadow wrote, using another of T.I.'s nicknames. "It took Tip some time to wake up the sleeping guard. Tip clearly identified himself and sought entry. The guard refused entry."

Sadow said T.I.'s wife, Tiny, was at home at the time and that he called her to help confirm that he should be let into the neighborhood, but that the guard still refused.

"Words were exchanged and apparently the guard and/or a supervisor called the police," Sadow said. "When the police arrived, they were not interested in hearing Tip’s side of the story and wrongfully chose to end the situation by arresting Tip."

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T.I. has since been released on bond.

With its county seat about 33 miles south of Atlanta, Henry County is the same suburban community where police officers were caught on video slamming and choking a former NFL player recently.

The Henry County district attorney announced last week that all serious charges have been dropped against Desmond Marrow, who said on social media that he passed out, had teeth knocked out and suffered a strained shoulder and a concussion in the violent incident.

A review of the officers' conduct during the Dec. 2 arrest is still ongoing, the district attorney said.

T.I., 37, is considered a pioneer in the rap subgenre of "trap music," which has its roots in Atlanta. He has released nine studio albums, with seven of them hitting the Top 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 200 chart. Along the way, he's teamed up with the likes of Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Iggy Azalea and Lil Wayne.

While the past few years have been relatively quiet for T.I. on the legal front, he has served time, including an 11-month stint in federal prison on weapons charges in 2010 and at least two county jail terms for probation violations.

He has also become a star of movies and reality television, appearing in the films "ATL," "Ant-Man" and others as well as the shows "T.I.'s Road to Redemption" and "T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle."

Tip "T.I. " Harris attends History Channel's "Roots" mini-series premiere at Alice Tully Hall on Monday, May 23, 2016, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)