PHILADELPHIA - A judge has sent Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill to jail for three to six months for violating his probation on a 2009 drug and gun case.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Mill and his lawyer spent almost four hours Friday trying unsuccessfully to persuade the judge not to lock him up.

Mill, whose real name is Robert Williams, has been a regular in court for nearly two years. He has been disputing the terms of his probation.

The newspaper says Mill had booked concerts between July 11 and August 11, when the judge had ordered him to stop while she tried resolving his probation problems.

Mill was supposed to headline a concert Friday night in Washington. The judge told the 27-year-old rapper's attorney that wasn't going to happen.