Lil Wayne Bids Farewell With Homemade Video Log

Lil Wayne will appear before a Manhattan judge today (Feb. 9) to receive formal sentencing for his 2007 gun possession case. The work-a-holic rapper will spend up to twelve months behind bars in the midst of his skyrocketing career, but still he remains in good spirits. The New Orleans native gathered his close friends and label mates at Miami's Dolce club on Sunday night (Feb. 7) to celebrate his hometown Saints and their Super Bowl victory, but also to say goodbye. The Cash Money family, including Drake, Mack Maine, Nicki Minaj and veterans like B.G. and Birdman were all on hand to party with Wayne, while trying not to worry too much about his impending prison stretch.

Early this morning, during his last hours as a free man, Wayne took to Ustream with the help of Lil Twist to say a final goodbye to his fans with a homemade video log. Within a few minutes of logging on, hundreds of fans were already waiting on word from the mad rapper. "I just clicked broadcast and there's already 600 people!" Twist said, less than a minute after logging on. "They must've been waiting." By the time Weezy entered the room a few seconds later, the number of waiting fans had already multiplied. "Damn its 786 people that quick!" A shocked Wayne said, as he approached the camera. After re-establishing his cult-like appeal with fans, Wayne set up a quick, playful poll for his fans, and spent the next few minutes mulling around the studio, laughing, making jokes and taking phone calls. If no one mentioned that this was a farewell video, we'd be hard pressed to believe that this man heads off to prison today.

His last message to fans was nothing but love. "To all my fans, my real fans, I really, really, really truly love you," he said. "I love you with all of me, for real."

Check out Lil Wayne's good-bye video below.