Lil' Wayne Getting Out of Jail, Set to Party

Rapper Lil' Wayne is set to walk out of New York City's infamous Rikers Island prison Thursday morning after serving an eight months on a weapons charge, and his friends are reportedly planning an "elegant, extravagant" evening of celebration and strippers to welcome him home.

The platinum-selling, billboard topping (even during his stint in Rikers) MC, born Dwayne Carter Jr., pleaded guilty in 2009 to possessing a loaded gun on his tour bus in Manhattan. He started serving a one-year sentence in March.

He's expected to get out early because of time off for good behavior, despite the electronic contraband that landed him in solitary confinement for the last month of his term: a charger and headphones for a digital music player were found in his cell, jail officials said. (He acknowledged the misstep on his blog.)

In an interview aired Wednesday with MTV, Young Money records president Mack Maine said a party was being planned for this Sunday in Miami to help the rapper readjust to normal life on the outside.

"It should be a lot of beautiful women, just ... beautiful scenery. 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," Maine told MTV.

The record label boss, who MTV says is also a close personal friend of Lil' Wayne, said after a private party, the entourage would move to a strip club called King of Diamonds in Florida's party capital.

Lil' Wayne joined a roster of successful rappers who have spent time behind bars, a list that has muddied the line between art and life in a genre that arose from inner-city streets and often chronicles crime and violence. Big names including Tupac Shakur, Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown, Shyne, Mystikal, Gucci Mane and T.I. have been incarcerated for periods ranging from months to years.

Several rappers have put out albums while locked up; the late Shakur became the first to hit number one with 1995's "Me Against the World," released while he was imprisoned on a sexual assault conviction. Some have recorded songs behind bars.