Rapper Lyfe Jennings Gets Prison Sentence, Retires

"Ghetto Superman" artist gets 3 1/2 years for discharging a gun, other offenses during fight with mother of his children in 2008

By Natalie Finn Sep 23, 2010 12:45 AMTags
Lyfe JenningsJamie Mullen/WireImage.com

Is Lyfe Jennings done for good, or will he rise like The Phoenix?

The platinum-selling rapper called it a career Wednesday after being sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for firing a gun and making other bad decisions during a 2008 fight with his ex-girlfriend.

"This will be my last post," he wrote on Twitter. "To everyone who gave me a chance I am forever in your debt. I have had a fabulous career because of you...I've lived a hundred lives in these 6 yrs so I not only won't, i don't have the right to complain."

Not now you don't, anyway.

Lyfe Jennings, born Chester Bamsu Jennings, was convicted in a Fulton County court of criminal trespassing, discharging a weapon near a street, possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and fleeing or attempting to elude a police offer, according to HipHopWired.

According to the complaint against him, Jennings was arrested in October 2008 after kicking in the door of the house where his ex-girlfriend and mother of his two sons, Joy Bounds, was staying, and then firing rounds from a .40-caliber weapon from out in the street. Afterward, he let officers chase him around Smyrna, Ga., for awhile. Then, after crashing his 2005 Corvette, he refused a field sobriety test.

He had already informed fans that his fourth album, I Still Believe, would be his last. Whether he meant it or not, the prison sentence handed down today means another one won't be coming for awhile.

"I would like to think that I've changed lives by changing my own, tho I can't be sure," Jennings concluded. "But one thing I am sure of is God gives and takes away in measure. He is fair, just and forever. Amen from aman... Smile, its contageous:)"

Before his music career took off, Jennings spent 10 years in prison for arson. The title of his debut studio album, Lyfe 268-192, refers to his prison ID number.

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Lyfe Jennings wasn't the first celeb to see the inside of a jail cell.