New York-bred rapper Prodigy avoided jail for the second time in five weeks after being hospitalized with painful complications from sickle cell anemia on Wednesday.

Prodigy was set to turn himself in to begin his three-and-a-half year prison term for gun possession but instead, the rapper was taken to a New York hospital where he's being treated for severe lung pain.

Prodigy, whose real name is Albert Johnson, may also need hip replacement surgery, which would be his second hip procedure in a year. Johnson has been granted a one-week extension and is set to begin his sentence on February 20.

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