Busta Rhymes’ arrest came after his performance at the AmsterJam Festival in New York. The Seattle P.I. reports on the New York Police Department statement about the arrest. "The New York Police Department said the incident occurred Aug. 12. Rhymes was arraigned on a charge of third-degree assault and released on his own recognizance, said a spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office. He is due in court Oct. 24."

Busta Rhymes, whose real name is Trevor Smith Jr., was also charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Details about both the assault and the weapons charge were not given by the New York Police Department. However, the police had been wanting to talk to Busta Rhymes about the murder of his bodyguard, Israel Ramirez, back on February 5. Ramirez was shot to death outside of the set of the Busta Rhymes music video "Touch It" in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

The New York Daily News discussed the issue with an anonymous source. "I don’t know if this is normally something he would even be arrested for," the source said, "But his bouncer was killed and he didn’t want to cooperate. This is our way of dealing with it."

Busta Rhymes has been widely criticized for not coming forward to help the police investigation into Israel Ramirez’s death. ABC News quoted Scott Leemon, a lawyer for Busta, who said the charge facing Rhymes should have warranted a much less severe course of action. "This is payback by the NYPD."