United States President George W. Bush has pardoned Grammy Award winning rapper John Forté.  Forte had been serving time in prison for transporting over $1 million worth of cocaine through a New Jersey airport in 2000.

John Edward Forte, a Grammy Award-winning rapper, is arguably the best known of those pardoned. He was arrested at Newark International Airport in 2000 after being found with a briefcase containing $1.4m of cocaine and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Forte, who has always protested his innocence, co-wrote and produced two songs on The Score, the Fugees’ Grammy-winning 1996 album and several singers, including Carly Simon, had joined a campaign for his pardon, claiming he was not given a fair-trial.

The singer, of North Brunswick, New Jersey, will be released after serving half of a 14 year sentence.

The pardon will is one of just a few that President Bush has given out so far in his two terms as Commander-in-Chief.  He has given out only about half the amount of pardons as of former two-term Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.