Lil Wayne Released from Prison after 8 Months on Rikers Island

After serving eight months in New York's Rikers Island prison facility, Lil Wayne is finally a free man.

The rapper was released from Rikers Island early Thursday morning (November 4) after eight months of a one-year prison term for a gun possession charge, despite a guardtelling MTV the same morning that he had to wait another day due to "miscalculated" time.

At 8:35 a.m., a spokesperson from the prison confirmed at Weezy had been discharged.

Back in March, Lil Wayne turned himself into New York authorities to begin his sentence after striking a plea deal, in which he pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon, for an arrest back in July 2007 in Manhattan where police found a gun on his tour bus.

Weezy and his crew were leaving his first headlining performance in New York at the time, when his tour bus was pulled over. After the NYPD allegedly smelled the odor of marijuana coming from inside, a search of the bus turned up a .40-caliber handgun and drugs.

Young Money president, Mack Maine, told MTV that during the rapper's first few days of freedom, he plans to hang out with his family.

"His mom's been calling during this interview. She just flew in and, basically, he's gonna wanna chill with his family, his kids, too," Maine said Wednesday (November 3).

Before Weezy kicks off a homecoming celebration in Miami on Sunday (November), though, Maine said he'll have to deal with his drug case in Arizona. He'll be flying out to Arizona on Friday (November 5) to sign papers in that case and appear in court.

While incarcerated in New York, Weezy reached a plea deal in a January 2008 arrest for drugs in Arizona, which will keep him out of jail in exchange for a guilty plea. Instead, he is sentenced to three years of probation.

Then on the weekend, Wayne will head to Miami to began his celebration with a party on Sunday. It follows Drake's Light Dreams and Nightmares Tour stop Saturday (November 6) in Las Vegas, a show at which both Maine and Drizzy have hinted Wayne may make a surprise appearance.