Lil Wayne Photo Emerges As Young Money Reacts To Release

Lil Wayne walked out of Rikers Island prison a free man around 8:30 Thursday morning (November 4). A short time later, his Young Money crew began to share their excitement via Twitter.

The world got the first look at the rapper as he made his way back into the outside world from a photo posted by a Young Money camp insider. It showed Wayne wearing a white cap and white shirt while sitting inside a vehicle with the window rolled down.

At around 8 a.m. sources spotted a caravan of about eight luxury vehicles departing a Manhattan hotel, likely on their way to meet up with the rapper.

Hours earlier, around 4 a.m., Young Money president Mack Maine tweeted that he was "impatiently waiting" for Wayne's release, and shortly before 10 a.m. manager Cortez Bryant tweeted his thoughts, "FREE AT LAST!!!!!!! >>>>> ya heard me yea!!!!!!!"

Mack echoed Bryant moments later, writing, "Everybody go and welcome @liltunechi back.....all true weezy fans!!! The angels are rejoicing and so am I!!!!!"  

Nicki Minaj also celebrated the news, writing, "Wayne's home!"

Wayne (born Dwayne Carter) was released from Rikers after serving eight months of a year-long sentence for attempted gun possession. In March, he turned himself in to New York authorities after he struck a plea deal in his case stemming from a 2007 gun arrest near the Beacon Theatre in Manhattan.

Young Money President Mack Maine stopped by the MTV News offices Wednesday and revealed that Weezy would celebrate his homecoming with a party Sunday at a Miami strip club. According to Maine, Wayne's musical family plans to "just treat him like a king, like the royalty that he is and make him feel like we really missed him and welcome him back to the family, basically." The party follows Drake's Light Dreams and Nightmares Tour stop Saturday in Las Vegas, a show at which both Maine and Drizzy have hinted Wayne may make a surprise appearance.

"I would just advise you to book a ticket out there. If you can get tickets to that show on the 6th, I would strongly advise it," Drake told about the possibility of reuniting with his mentor onstage.