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Ja Rule begins two-year prison sentence on gun charge

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Ja Rule turned himself in Wednesday to begin serving two years in New York state prison stemming from a weapons-related arrest in 2007. The sentence came down after the rapper, real name Jeffrey Atkins, entered a guilty plea in December on attempted criminal possession of a weapon.

Police said that after pulling Rule’s ride over for speeding after a July 2007 concert in New York, they found an unlicensed, loaded, semiautomatic weapon in his Maybach. The rapper was arrested and released the next day on $150,000 bail.

In March, Rule pleaded guilty in New Jersey to three counts of failing to file a tax return, admitting that he’d failed to pay income tax on more than $3 million earned from 2004 through 2006, with prosecutors dropping charges related to earnings in 2007 and 2008. Facing up to a year in prison and $100,000 fine for each count, he’s scheduled to be sentenced in that case on Monday. He also agreed to pay $1.1 million in back taxes.

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‘Real life is a fantasy, [forget] fame ... I’m ready for this to get over with. I am focused,’ the 35-year-old told friends and family before parting company at Manhattan Superior Court, TMZ reported.

‘I’m disappointed,’ the multi-platinum rapper said in an April interview on MTV. ‘I’m mad at myself.’ He said he felt like he’d let down his wife, teen daughter and two sons.

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-- Christie D’Zurilla

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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