BANGOR – A rapper arrested in January outside the Orono nightspot where he had just performed pleaded guilty Wednesday to a robbery charge.

Duane Narvel Brown, 21, was sentenced in Penobscot County Superior Court to eight years in jail with all but 21/2 years suspended and three years probation.

The robbery charge stemmed from an incident in November 2005 in which a man was robbed of $32 while walking on Essex Street in Bangor.

Before his arrest, Brown had been performing under the name “D Black” and advertised himself as a Boston-based rapper with 3-Deep Entertainment.

He was arrested two months ago by the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency with the assistance of other departments just after he had performed at the Bear Brew Pub in Orono.

He had eluded authorities a few days after the Nov. 29, 2005, robbery when police went to a Brewer apartment to arrest him.

He was indicted in April 2006 for robbery, criminal threatening and theft, and he was wanted in Cumberland County for failure to appear in court on a concealed-weapon charge, an incident alleged to have occurred after the Bangor robbery.

Assistant District Attorney Greg Campbell said Thursday that the criminal threatening and theft charges were dismissed, and that Brown had been in jail since his Jan. 29 court appearance because he was unable to make bail, which had been set at $25,000 cash or $100,000 surety.

Melvin Gay, 20, and Brown, both described as transients, approached a man walking on Essex Street at about 10 p.m. on Nov. 29, 2005.

Brown pointed a pellet gun at the victim, who lived in the neighborhood. When the man continued to walk up the street, Gay pushed the man to get his attention.

Gay, who turned himself in two days after the robbery, told police that he and Brown intended to scare a man who was walking ahead of them.

Gay was sentenced in May to seven years in prison with all but 18 months suspended after pleading guilty to robbery. He is in the Maine State Prison in Warren.