Lil Wayne Reveals The Surprising Way He Survived Eight Months In Prison

It’s been six years since Lil Wayne was behind bars and now, the rapper is opening up about his time in prison.

Before starting his eight months at Rikers Island in New York City, the rapper had a plan. “There was, ‘OK, let’s get a plan together… from when you go in… and when you get out,’’ he told the Associated Press. Wayne’s manager, Cortez Bryant, gave the Cash Money Records rapper the idea to release a book following his release, leading the rapper to write in a diary during his stay.

“My best friend Cortez told me, ‘You know, people want to know what you did every single day,’” he said. In “Gone ‘Til November,” Wayne discusses his life in prison and in an interview with the Associated Press, he opens up about his life behind bars a little bit more.

According to Wayne, while in prison, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Kanye West came to visit him. “When I was there, actually talking to them during the visitation, they made it so real.” The rapper says it was at that moment that moment that his jail sentence hit him.

“They were like, ‘How you feeling? What are you going through? Do you need anything, like do you really need anything? Do your parents need anything?’ And then, I said the moment it hit me was going back up to the cell,” he said.

The rapper also thanked the guards and inmates for helping him get through his eight months by making him feel like he was at home. “The prisoners, the guards… They took all the cliche [out] of whatever I thought it was gonna be, they took that and threw it right out the window.”

In October 2009, the rapper pleaded guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon after police discovered a .40 caliber pistol in a bag near him by his tour bus. He was eventually given a one-year sentence on March 8, 2010 but only served eight of the 12 months.