NEW YORK (Reuters) — After whirlwind goodbyes to fans, diminutive US rapper Lil Wayne was sentenced to one year in jail on Monday after he pleaded guilty on a gun possession charge in a 2007 incident.

Lil Wayne, 27, whose real name is Dwayne Carter and who also goes by the moniker "Weezy," appeared in New York State Supreme Court wearing jeans and a grey hooded sweatshirt.

Justice Charles Solomon passed the sentence for attempted criminal possession of a weapon after a plea agreement in which Carter gave up his right to appeal over a case in which a gun was found in his tour bus in July 2007. Carter remained silent during the hearing and nodded solemnly when led to jail in handcuffs. His sentencing had been postponed twice in the last month, once so he could get dental surgery and then because a fire shut the courthouse for four days.

Carter, whose album "Tha Carter III" was the biggest-selling release of 2008 and won him best rap album and three other prizes at the 2009 Grammy Awards, also recorded numerous videos in anticipation of jail time. He was accompanied by rapper and Cash Money records co-founder Bryan "Birdman" Williams and a barrage of fans and media gathered outside the lower Manhattan courtroom.

Carter is headed to Rikers Island jail, where he will be held in protective custody and could be released in eight months with good behaviour, said his lawyer, Stacey Richman who said the rapper was resolute as he was taken away. "He knew what he had to do, and he's doing it," she said.

He has a cell to himself but the option of spending time in a TV room with 17 other inmates who also have been separated from the general population because of notoriety or other reasons, according to the city Correction Department.

It wasn't immediately clear what work assignment he might have, if any."Because of who he is, the department of corrections would not have it (protective custody) any other way," Richman said. He made a point of leaving fans with fanfare, from a "farewell tour" in recent months to a series of videos on the web site Ustream on Sunday.

"Law is mind without reason ... I'll return," he wrote on his Twitter account Monday morning.

Dozens of fans jockeyed with photographers waiting on the courthouse steps Monday afternoon, cheering as Lil Wayne, fellow rapper Birdman and others arrived. Shouts of "Oh, man" and "Keep your head up, Weezy!" — a nickname he often uses — erupted in the courtroom as he was sentenced.

Although Lil Wayne had agreed to go to jail, a number of roadblocks kept him from starting his sentence in recent weeks.

First, his sentencing was postponed in February so he could undergo surgery on his bejewelled teeth. Then, a fire shut down Manhattan's main criminal courthouse while he was on his way there last week.

He told Rolling Stone for a story last month that he planned to keep working while behind bars. "I'll be still rapping in there, have a gang of raps ready when I come back home," he said.

As for listening to music, inmates are allowed to buy AM/FM radios at the jail commissary.

In the lead-up to sentencing, Carter sent a six-part series of videos on his life to MTV.com. "Road to Rikers" shows Carter before and after dental surgery, shooting music videos and relaxing at his home. MTV News reported that he filmed nine music videos in anticipation of his jail term.

Carter also started a Twitter account last month. His most recent tweet, posted on Monday, said: "Law is mind without reason ... I'll return."