Rapper will undergo surgery before serving his prison term; sentencing pushed back to March 2.
By Jayson Rodriguez

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Lil Wayne appears at court in New York City Tuesday


Photo: Louis Lanzano/ Getty Images

NEW YORK — Lil Wayne’s sentencing has been delayed until March 2 due to dental surgery, his attorney announced in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday (February 9).

The rapper was scheduled to be formally sentenced by a judge and begin serving his one-year term stemming from a 2007 arrest that resulted in a guilty plea in October for attempted weapons possession.

The Cash Money MC arrived shortly after 2 p.m. with his label heads Birdman and Slim. He quietly entered the courtroom as photographers snapped pictures from the hallway. Wayne wore a navy coat and black-framed glmovie reviewses, and he sat still while his lawyer Stacey Richman spoke.

She informed the judge that she sent a notification to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office that the rapper is suffering from a cracked tooth and would need to postpone his sentence. The judge agreed and ruled to reschedule for March 2.

The postponement wasn’t guaranteed. The rapper has typically arrived to his previous court appearances with a small crew that included a bodyguard and his road manager, in addition to Baby and Slim. On Tuesday, however, he was accompanied by that group as well as Lil Twist, Mack Maine and several others from the Cash Money/ Young Money camps. The proceedings were swift and austere as the prosecution agreed that the rapper would receive better care with his own dentist versus treatment at the Rikers Island facilities.

The rapper is set to undergo surgery February 12 in Miami, according to Richman. He will need a week to 10 days to recover. His defense offered prosecutors February 25 as a date for Wayne to turn himself him in after surgery, but Judge Charles H. Solomon instead selected March 2.

The judge then warned Wayne that he must return to Miami on Tuesday. Solomon insisted if he leaves tomorrow, there would be a chance his surgery would be delayed due to hazardous weather conditions leaving New York, where a snowstorm is expected.

“I don’t want this to get pushed back anymore,” Solomon said. “This is the last adjournment.”

While not entirely unexpected, the delay has surprised many, considering that Wayne has been hard at work in recent weeks recording music and videos to be released during his time in jail, and even said goodbye to fans in a live streaming video early Tuesday morning.

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