ASAP Rocky is behind bars in Sweden after street fight caught on video

ASAP Rocky was arrested early Wednesday in Stockholm, Sweden, on suspicion of gross assault after a Sunday altercation that was captured in part on videos posted online, including two posted by the artist himself.

The rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was taken into custody around 1 a.m. Wednesday, the Swedish Prosecution Authority told The Times. He had been part of the lineup at the two-day Smash festival of hip-hop in Stockholm on Tuesday.

The story broke in the United States on Tuesday when TMZ posted video showing ASAP Rocky and his entourage hammering on two men in the street, in daylight. In that video, the 30-year-old rapper, wearing shorts and a hooded sweatshirt, can be seen grabbing one of the men by his shirt or shoulders and hurling him across the street. Then others from the entourage start hitting and kicking the man.

Both parties are speaking different languages, making the exchange more difficult to understand, though the men attempted some English as one complained about his headphones.

However, another two videos posted by ASAP Rocky on his Instagram on Tuesday show that the two men had been bothering the entourage well before the altercation took place, with Rocky and his bodyguard trying to defuse the situation.

“So a few drug addicts are not my fans, we dont know these guys and we didnt want trouble, they followed us for 4 blocks, and they were slapping girls butts who passed, give me a break,” the rapper wrote with the first video of the encounter, in which Rocky’s bodyguard attempted to talk to the men.

“Hits security in face with headphones then follow us,” he wrote with the second video, which runs nearly three minutes and includes a woman’s voice accusing one of the men of slapping her and her girlfriend on the butt. It also includes the sounds of headphones crunching as one of the men clashes with Rocky’s bodyguard.

Under Swedish law, a prosecutor has up to three days after a person is arrested to file a charge, but in this case more information is expected on Thursday, the Prosecution Authority spokeswoman said.

ASAP Rocky is scheduled for a show with Cardi B in London on Friday. A rep for his label did not respond immediately to a request for comment Wednesday.

cdz@latimes.com

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