After serving eight months at New York's Rikers Island correctional facility, rap diva Foxy Brown is a free bird. The rapper -- who was sentenced to one year in jail for violating probation when she pled guilty to misdemeanor assault charges -- was released from prison this morning.

The rapper was greeted by excited fans and media as she stepped out of a white Rolls Royce donning a head scarf, diva-like sunglasses and a brown leather jacket over a fairly simple ensemble. Brown hugged and took pictures with almost every friend, fan and family member while making quick statements into a bevy of tape recorders and cameras before jumping back into the Rolls Royce.

Embattled rapper Foxy Brown is requesting that she be released from jail after serving only four months of a one-year sentence. Brown, whose real name is Ingrid Marchand, is asking to be released so she can travel to the House Clinic in Los Angeles for hearing tests. Marchand complained of an ear condition in 2004, and experienced some loss of hearing in 2006.

"I ask you to please take into consideration that my health is in jeopardy," Marchand wrote in a handwritten letter attached to court papers. "Yes, I've made some bad choices and stupid mistakes," she continued in the four-page letter. "But please understand that sitting in a prison with murderers and criminals is not rehabilitating or what I need to deal with my inner issues."

Marchand's attorney Laura Dilimentin claims that the rapper's condition is "worsening in jail since she cannot obtain at Rikers the proper treatment." According to Dilimentin, Marchand needs cochlear implant adjustments in order to repair her "deteriorating hearing loss."

Marchand was sentenced in September 2007 to a year in jail for violating probation when she pled guilty to to misdemeanor assault charges stemming from an altercation with two manicurists in August 2004.

After spending 40 of her appointed 76 days in "punitive segregation," Foxy Brown is free at last ... sort of. The rapper, whose real name is Inga Marchand, was released from solitary confinement at the Rose M. Singer Center for women on New York's Rikers Island due to good behavior, according to TMZ.com.

Marchand, who has been on Riker's Island since August for violating probation, was placed in solitary confinement after refusing to submit to a drug test, allegedly attacking another inmate and verbally assaulting prison officials.

The rapper's legal woes, which led to her one year prison sentence, began when she pled guilty to to misdemeanor assault charges stemming from an altercation with two manicurists in August 2004. The rapper continued her run of bad behavior and was arrested in February 2007, after allegedly throwing a bottle of hair glue at an employee in a Florida beauty salon. Her legal trobles continued when she was indicted on assault charges in August 2007, for allegedly throwing her cell phone at her neighbor in Brooklyn.