Lil Wayne released from prison
Rapper heading to his Miami home after serving eight months in Rikers Island jail for a gun charge
Lil Wayne has been freed from jail after serving eight months for a gun-related charge, emerging with a new album, well-wishes from a former president and a deepened appreciation for his fans. New York City's Department of Correction website today announced that the Grammy award-winning rap star had been released from Rikers Island jail.
"FREE AT LAST!!!!!!!" the rapper's manager, Cortez Bryant, tweeted. Lil Wayne's management said he plans to head for his home in Miami, where they're planning a welcome-home party on Sunday. "I was never scared, worried nor bothered by the situation," Lil Wayne said on Tuesday through Weezythanxyou.com, a website set up to give fans a glimpse of his life in jail.
It was reported earlier today that the rapper's release was delayed by one day due to an earlier "infraction" during his eight-month sentence.
Lil Wayne, who had the bestselling album of 2008 and won a best rap album Grammy with Tha Carter III, kept his career in high gear while locked up for having a loaded gun on his tour bus in 2007.
His latest album, I Am Not a Human Being, released while he was in solitary confinement in September, reached No 1 on the Billboard 200 chart last month. He also was featured on a string of hits by other artists, including Drake and Eminem that came out while he was incarcerated. Lil Wayne also recorded a verse for the Drake/Jay-Z collaboration Light Up over the phone for a Rikers Remix that circulated online.
Barack Obama recently told Rolling Stone he has some Lil Wayne music on his iPod. And former President Bill Clinton praised the rapper's abilities during a phone interview with a Pittsburgh radio station on Tuesday, adding that "what I hope will happen is that he has a good life now".
Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Carter Jr, pleaded guilty in October 2009 to attempted weapon possession, admitting he had a loaded, semi-automatic .40-caliber gun on his bus after a Manhattan concert.
He started a year-long sentence in March but got time off for good behaviour, despite a disciplinary knock that sent him to solitary for the last month of his term. A charger and headphones for a digital music player were found in his cell in May, prison officials said. The items are considered contraband.
The rapper later acknowledged the misstep on his website, where his associates typed up and posted periodic letters he wrote on topics ranging from his daily Rikers routine to new songs he'd heard and liked on the radio. He also provided specific, individual responses to some of the fan mail that flooded his cell and became, he said, a source of cheer behind bars.
"I laughed with some of you, reasoned with some of you, and even cried with some of you," he wrote in a letter posted on Tuesday. "I never imagined how much impact my words and life can have." But he assured fans the impact hasn't completely changed him: "I will be the same Martian I was when I left, just better."
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