To the world, Lil Wayne is the rap legend who has collaborated with every artist in the business and blessed the world with the talents of Drake and Nicki Minaj. But in his new book, “Gone ‘Til November: A Journal of Rikers Island,” he shows a different side of himself that many people aren’t used to seeing. In a new tell-all story about his experience while in Rikers Island, New York City’s primary jail, Wayne expresses all the different emotions that one could imagine feeling when being put in such a position — especially for a man who was at the top of the world just before his sentence. The sentence was served in 2010 after he pleaded guilty to possession of a gun.

But for Wayne, the time in prison didn’t go to waste. In his intriguing and pulling diary, he allows his fans into his life at his darkest hour and truly reveals the man behind the hits.

From meeting interesting inmates to having a rough first start with some of the authority figures on the island, Wayne goes through quite a transition. During the duration of his sentence he had some fun highs, like the day he officiated a play wedding between two inmates, and some lows, including when he had a visit with his mother and it hit him that he was really in prison and he wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. But he used the time to self-reflect, and at the end of each day he would do some push-ups, pray, listen to the radio and count “another day gone.”

Within this diary, the man that is presented is very far from the man that the public is used to seeing in the media: he is funny, quirky, very insightful, very enthusiastic and very human — just like the rest of the world. Behind the iconic Lil Wayne persona, there is a man who feels immense pain about many things and wants his fans to know that he is just like them. He eats a lot, worries about his weight and doesn’t want his mother or daughter seeing him so powerless.

Through the ups and downs of his stay, Lil Wayne stayed humble and optimistic about his life and where he was going at the end of his stay. The one thing he was sure about was that it would be his last time at Rikers Island. And his fans hope so, too.

Email Lizzie Essiedu at [email protected].