Entertainment

NEW YORK (AP):

Rap star Lil Wayne has left fans and fellow artistes with a video blitz, as he braces for as much as a year behind bars at the height of his career.

The rapper was expected to begin his New York City jail term yesterday after pleading guilty in October in a 2007 gun case.

"He's been approaching this as professionally as he does everything else," his lawyer, Stacey Richman, said Monday.

The multiplatinum-selling rapper, one of the genre's biggest names in recent years, certainly has been preparing for a professional absence. He said in a video clip sent Monday to MTV News that he shot footage for seven music videos with various artistes in one night, this past weekend.

Guilty plea

Lil Wayne, 27, pleaded guilty in October to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. He admitted having a loaded gun on his tour bus when it was stopped in Manhattan in July 2007.

His plea deal calls for him to serve his sentence in city jails, rather than state prison. Officials have declined to discuss where he'll be held among the roughly 13,000 inmates in the city's jails.

Lil Wayne was initially due to be sentenced and start his term last month, but the date was pushed back so he could have surgery on his gem-encrusted teeth.

With good behaviour, he could end up spending only about eight months behind bars.

Born Dwayne Carter, he has been a rapper since his teens and one of the genre's most prolific, ubiquitous and profitable figures in recent years. His Tha Carter III was the best-selling album of 2008.

His latest album, Rebirth , was released this month.