LIL' Jailbird

(From The Hartford Courant -- By Pat Seremet)

GRAMMY-WINNER LIL' KIM was sentenced Wednesday to a year and a day in prison and fined $50,000 for lying to a federal grand jury to protect friends involved in a 2001 shootout outside a MANHATTAN RADIO STATION.

Many rappers have served time in prison; Lil' Kim is the first big-name woman to do so.

Lil' Kim (KIMBERLY JONES) could have gotten up to 20 years -- five years each on three counts of perjury and one count of conspiracy -- at her sentencing before U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE GERARD LYNCH in New York. She was convicted of the charges in March.

Lil' Kim, who turns 30 next week, was the sidekick and mistress of the late NOTORIOUS B.I.G. The rapper told the grand jury she did not notice two of her close friends at the scene of the shootout -- her manager, DAMION BUTLER, and SUIF JACKSON, known as "GUTTA." Both have pleaded guilty to gun charges.