Rapper is freed from jail

Associated Press

NEW YORK

Lil Wayne was freed from jail Thursday after serving eight months in a gun case, emerging with a hot new album, well-wishes from a former president and a deepened appreciation for his fans.

“Welcome home, Weezy!” the rap star’s Facebook page proclaimed, using one of his nicknames, after his morning release from the Rikers Island jail complex. He was freed at a location jail officials and his lawyer wouldn’t disclose.

His managers have said he planned to head for his home in Miami, where they’re planning a welcome-home party Sunday.

“I was never scared, worried nor bothered by the situation” behind bars, Lil Wayne said Tuesday through Weezythanxyou.com, a website he set up to give fans a glimpse of his life in jail.

Lil Wayne, who had the best-selling 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 — hit 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 — and he recorded a verse for the Drake/Jay-Z collaboration “Light Up” over the phone.

Former President Bill Clinton praised the rapper’s abilities during an interview with a Pittsburgh radio station Tuesday.