The rapper J Hus has been sentenced to eight months in jail after admitting to carrying a knife in a public place.

Police caught the 22-year-old, AKA Momodou Jallow, with a weapon near the Westfield shopping centre in Stratford, east London, on 21 June. They stopped him and his girlfriend after smelling cannabis.

When asked if he was carrying anything he shouldn’t have been, he said he had a 10cm folding knife. He explained: “You know, it’s Westfield.” He has previously been involved in disorder at the shopping centre.

In July he plead not guilty to the charge of possession of a bladed article in a public place, but changed his plea in October. The court heard that Hus has six previous convictions for 10 offences between 2011 and 2016, including possession of a knife and violent disorder, and he has previously received an asbo.

Judge Sheila Canavan said she would be “failing in my duty” if she did not jail him. She recognised his “considerable talent” but said that he had “failed to leave his past behind him”.

In a letter read out by his lawyer, Henry Blaxland, J Hus said he was sorry and that he “fully accepted his actions were careless”. He described carrying a knife as “ill advised” and “utterly stupid”. He said he was not “in the right state of mind” and added: “I’m deeply sorry and regret my foolish actions.” Blaxland told Judge Canavan that the arrest was a “watershed moment” for the rapper, who knows “he has a responsibility” to others.

J Hus is a leading light of the British rap scene. His debut album, Common Sense, was nominated for the 2017 Mercury music prize. He was nominated for three Brit awards this year. Following the arrest in June, he was removed from the lineup of this summer’s Wireless festival.

Blaxland told the court his client had felt isolated because of his fame, and may have been drawn back to his childhood home of Newham, east London, “like a moth to a flame”. He said he had been seeing a therapist and has PTSD after being stabbed five times in 2015.

J Hus has six previous convictions for 10 offences between 2011 and 2016, including possession of a knife and violent disorder. This is the fourth time he has been caught with a knife. He has previously received an asbo.