Rapper Shyheim has been released on bail after he was arrested in New York following a drug raid on his home.

The hip-hop star and frequent Wu-Tang Clan collaborator was taken into custody in Staten Island after a police search of his home on 19 April (13) allegedly turned up a revolver, five rounds of ammunition, 41 small bags of heroine, and other drug paraphernalia.

The rapper, born Shyheim Franklin, was booked at Rikers Island on a slew of of misdemeanour and felony charges, including second-degree criminal possession of a weapon and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, but he was released on Friday (26Apr13) after posting $10,000 (£6,250) bail.

The 33 year old has spoken out to protest his innocence, telling HipHopDx.com, "My mind is all over the place you know what I'm sayin', but it is some very serious charges, I'm looking at some serious (jail) time of course... I really can't talk about the case, but you know... I (maintain) my innocence, I'm innocent. And that's that. I don't really know what else to say: I'm out, I'm okay, I'm healthy (and) I wanna thank everybody for their support...

"There's a lot of illegal stuff that went down in the procedures that wasn't supposed to take place but my attorneys is on it and you know we gonna fight (the charges). I'm not the first person that this happened to, there's a lot of innocent people in the prison system today and it's just sad but true (that) you're guilty until you're proven innocent (sic)."

Franklin previously served time behind bars for an attempted robbery in 2002.