Rapper Lil Wayne Will Serve Jail Term in New York

The Associated Press is reporting that father-of-three and Grammy-winning rapper, Lil Wayne, will likely be going to jail for approximately one year. Sentencing for the rapper won't be held until February 2010, however, a similar case involving rapper T.I. recently resulted in a one-year plea agreement. Standing in front of a New York judge today, Lil Wayne answered guilty to a lesser charge as part of a legal agreement with prosecutors in a case stemming from a 2007 incident in the Big Apple.

Lil Wayne was facing more than three years in a New York state prison on a criminal firearms possession charge. According to Wikipedia, Lil Wayne was charged with illegal gun possession and cited for smoking marijuana outside the Beacon Theatre in New York.

Police apparently saw Lil Wayne and a friend smoking what appeared to be marijuana, and turned out to be marijuana, and in the course of searching both parties, recovered a .40 caliber pistol from Lil Wayne. Though Lil Wayne was also cited for marijuana the police seized, in the state of New York, Lil Wayne's weapons charges are the more serious issue.

As outlined on Wikipedia, Lil Wayne is no stranger to courtrooms. The 27-year-old rapper, who has sold millions of copies of his albums worldwide, had similar legal troubles in 2008, when he faced separate drug and weapon possession charges in Arizona. The matter is as yet unresolved, and Lil Wayne still faces trial or plea negotiations in that case.

The January 23, 2008, incident, in which Lil Wayne's tour bus was searched by Border Patrol agents outside of Yuma, Arizona, left Lil Wayne facing four felony charges, including drug possession, possession with intent to distribute and weapons charges. He posted bond and returned for an Arizona court date in May of 2009, to enter a plea of "not guilty".

Wikipedia's Lil Wayne page chronicles the Grammy-winning rap artist's rise to fame. Born Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr., Lil Wayne was a talented student, especially in music and drama-related activities, though he dropped out of school when he was 14 years old. A rapper since the age of eight, Lil Wayne eventually dropped the "D" in his name as a way to be his own man and distance himself from his father, with whom he doesn't associate.

Lil Wayne got his start over a decade ago, in 1997, with a group called Hot Boys. Hot Boys released the 1999 Billboard Chart-topping album, "Guerrilla Warfare". Lil Wayne's early solo attempts flickered but fizzled, until 2004's "Tha Carter" brought Lil Wayne to household-name status. Critics and fans received follow-up albums, "Tha Carter II" and "Tha Carter III" equally well. A much-anticipated double-album release, featuring "Tha Carter IV" packaged with Lil Wayne's first full-length rock effort, "Rebirth", is tentatively slated to be released before the 2009 holidays.