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A Louisiana rapper whose 2016 studio album reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top 200 pleaded guilty to a gun charge and was sentenced to 30 months in prison Wednesday, according to court records.
Kevin Jerome Gilyard, 31, known by his stage name of Kevin Gates, of Baton Rouge, La., pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with a 2013 arrest, according to court records.
Police records show Gilyard originally was arrested on an unlawful possession of a handgun charge about 8:10 p.m. Oct. 29, 2013, in the 7200 block of South Stony Island Avenue.
Bridgeview Branch Court Judge Neil Linehan gave Gilyard credit for 34 days already spent in jail in the case, according to court records.
Gilyard at least twice had warrants issued for his arrest in the case, once in 2013 when he failed to show up in court, and once in December 2016, according to court records.
He was back in custody at the end of March, according to court records, and had been held by authorities since.
Gilyard, as Gates, broke onto the scene in 2013 with “The Luca Brasi Story” after a series of mixtapes that depicted the gritty side of his life.
He signed to Atlantic Records, and released “Stranger Than Fiction” shortly tafter, the release that began his stint as a Billboard chart fixture.