NEW YORK (Court TV) — Hip hop mogul Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault Wednesday for stabbing a record executive after cutting a deal to receive only three years probation for the crime.

Decked out in dark blue jeans and a tan sweater from his own Roc-A-Wear clothing line, the rapper was clearly pleased as he answered a series of perfunctory questions from Judge Micki Scherer. He hesitated only once, when the judge asked him what crime he had committed.

"I stabbed Lance Rivera," Carter answered.

Making the admission was a reversal for Carter, who consistently declared his innocence after the December 2, 1999 stabbing and wrote the hit song "Guilty Until Proven Innocent" to address the charges and his portrayal in the media. His lawyer declined to discuss the reasons for the plea, but The New York Post reported Oct. 18 that the rapper paid $600,000 to the victim to insure he would not cooperate with prosecutors.

"I have accepted responsibility for my actions as well as the actions of others who were involved," said Carter in a written statement released after the hearing. "I am very pleased that this unfortunate episode is now over."

Carter avoided standing trial on a second-degree assault charge that carries a maximum of 15 years in prison. Prosecutor Joan Illuzi-Orbon said the sides began to talk about a deal just in the last few days. She would not comment on why the plea bargain was struck.

Judge Scherer set a sentencing date of December 6 for Carter.

The rapper stabbed Rivera during a release party for A Tribe Called Quest front man Q-Tip at the Kit Kat Klub, a now defunct Times Square nightclub.

Authorities claim that Carter thought the record producer — a former business partner of Biggie Smalls and an industry big wig in his own right — was bootlegging his new album, "Vol 3...Life and Times of S. Carter."

In a civil suit filed by Rivera and then withdrawn, the producer alleged that Carter's cronies started a disturbance in the VIP section of the Kit Kat Klub so that the rapper could stab him in the chaos.

"Plaintiff Rivera...turned to find defendant Carter approaching him," says the suit. "As he approached, defendant Carter was speaking to plaintiff Rivera, repeating 'Yo, you broke my heart, Un' as he unfolded the five-inch (approximate) blade from his knife."

"(Jay-Z) stabbed plaintiff Rivera in the stomach, thrusting the blade up towards the rib cage and chest," the suit goes on to claim. "Following this first stabbing, an unknown assailant from defendant Carter's entourage then struck plaintiff Rivera in the head with a bottle. As plaintiff Rivera was falling to the floor from the head blow, defendant Carter then stabbed plaintiff Rivera again."

Rivera told all this and more to police after the incident. But a year after first making the allegations, he apparently had a change of heart, reportedly refusing to cooperate with authorities on the case.

Illuzi-Orbon said that Rivera's reticence to testify was not the reason that the plea deal was struck.

Carter also had an unrelated weapons charge against him dismissed. In his statement to the media, the rapper noted that he "should never have been arrested" on the charge.