By Mariel S. Clark
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — Rapper Lil Wayne is set to be released from prison this week after serving eight months of a one-year sentence for criminal possession of a weapon.
Wayne, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, is expected to get out Nov. 4 for good behavior despite serving his final month in solitary confinement. Carter spent 23 hours a day in an isolated cell on Rikers Island after being caught with contraband — a MP3 charger and headphones — in May.
"Talent is best nurtured in solitude… Be home soon!" he wrote on his blog, WeezyThankxYou.com.
Carter pleaded guilty in October 2009 to attempted criminal possession of a weapon after police caught him with a .40 caliber handgun in a marijuana smoke-filled tour van after a Beacon Theater concert in 2007.
While in prison, Carter was sentenced to three years' probation after pleading guilty to a drug possession charge in Arizona.
Prison hasn't dampened the star's career; his album "I Am Not a Human Being" spent a week at No. 1 on the charts in September, and he has written lyrics for a new album he hopes to release next year, according to the Associated Press.
The rapper's success from behind bars is due in large part to his management team that continued to release music during his sentence.
"Weezy" as he's known to fans, even recorded a track over a prison phone, the AP reported.
