Why Lil Wayne Needs to go to Jail

Rapper Lil Wayne may be “hip-hop’s greatest unstoppable force,” but starting March 2, he’ll be forced to stop for 12 months. Lil Wayne, real name Dwayne Carter, is going to jail for gun possession, as he should. The rapper is certainly not the only celebrity to be caught up in illegal activities, but he’s one of the few that’s actually getting punished for it. “It’s sad, because he doesn’t got to jail,” Nicky Minaj, one of the group of rappers, including Lil Wayne, who call themselves Young Money, told MTV. “Reality hasn’t set in that he has to go to jail. He shouldn’t have to go jail.”

Except he should. Multiplatinum selling artist or not, Carter broke the law, and he’s going to do time for it. Fans have protested, his record label isn’t happy to have him out of the studio, but he’s going, and it’s good to see celebrities like Lil Wayne start paying the price for their often very public crimes. Hopefully he won’t end up like Paris Hilton and get out of jail 40 days early.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Lil Wayne’s work, and it’ll be interesting (and possibly disappointing) to see how the world of hip-hop changes without him. But that doesn’t mean the world can’t live without him. The celeb world seems to glorify illegal activities, particularly drug use. John Mayer even has a hit song that centers mostly around the phrase “Who says I can’t get stoned?” In a world where many celebrities’ transgressions are forgotten, it’s reassuring to see that Lil Wayne has rules just like the rest of us.

“This is Lil Wayne going to jail. Nobody I can talk to can tell me what that’s like,” he told Rolling Stone. “I just say I’m looking forward to it.”

Roman Polanski, the director of the new movie “The Ghost Writer,” is one notable example of a celebrity who was never properly punished for his crimes. In 1977, Polanski was arrested for sexual assault and having sex with a 13-year-old girl, but fled to Europe before he was sentenced. As a French citizen, he lived comfortably in France for the last 30 years and stayed out of the United States as he is technically wanted in the country. In September, when he went to Switzerland for a film festival, he was arrested due to the outstanding warrant. He spent some time in jail, and is now under house arrest in Switzerland, fighting extradition, but he finished editing “The Ghost Writer” in his prison cell, and it has been released. Hundreds of people came to Polanski’s defense when he was arrested in Switzerland, seeming to completely disregard the fact that he is a convicted child rapist.

Whatever happens in the Polanski case, he still spent 30 years working on celebrated films and building up a resume as a director. It just demonstrates the unfortunate double standard between celebrities and everyone else. The arrest and proper sentencing of Lil Wayne is setting a good example for what should happen to all other celebrities who break the law. He can continue to create music and be appreciated as an artist, after he finishes his full jail sentence. And maybe, at some point, doing drugs and participating in other illegal activities will no longer be an accepted, and even celebrated, part of celebrity life, and celebrities will be kept to the same standards as everyone else.

Let us know what you think about the double standard for celebrities, as well as what should happen to Roman Polanski now that he’s been arrested 30 years later.