Rapper Lil' Wayne has downplayed his recent brushes with the law - insisting he is "only human" and "everybody makes mistakes".

The star - real name Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. - is facing drugs and weapons charges in Arizona after a border patrol inspection of the rapper's tour bus allegedly revealed marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy and miscellaneous drug paraphernalia as well as a 40-caliber pistol.

The 25-year-old appeared in court earlier this month pleading not guilty to all four felony counts. The hip-hop star has also pleaded not guilty to gun charges in New York relating to an incident when police discovered a handgun stashed in Carter's tour bus following a performance with Ja Rule in the city last July.

And Carter is convinced he only has himself to blame for his current problems and he is sick of his peers issuing words of warning.

He tells MTV.com, "Everybody has incidents, everybody's human. I made a mistake. A big mistake. But things get better. I'll get better.

"To this day, a lot of rappers the game be coming up to me, like, 'Yo, man, you need to be... You gotta be...' Don't tell me, you don't know what happened. I had, like, 15 people on the bus. Who's to say what's what? But everybody puts on that black gown and becomes judges, so I'm always guilty.

"If (the police) would have stopped (the bus) that night, and I had everything under control, it wouldn't have been nothing. I was irresponsible at that time. F$%#ed up on my part. No ifs, ands, buts about it. I don't blame nobody but myself. I can't blame nobody for not taking my charge... This is my bus."

- Lil' Wayne Gallery
- Ja Rule Pictures

(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)