Foxy Brown Released From Jail

Rapper Foxy Brown is a free woman after she was released from a New York jail to much fanfare yesterday afternoon.

The Candy star - real name Inga Marchand - has served eight months of a 12-month sentence at Riker's Island Prison for violating her probation by manhandling two manicurists.

But she walked free from jail on Friday and was greeted by loud cheers from the crowds of fans who had responded to her earlier request and gathered outside the notorious penitentiary to give her a rapturous welcome.

On Tuesday, Brown called on her fans to wait for her in the parking lot of the correctional facility, wearing T-shirts bearing her name and waving banners with her image plastered on them.

Wearing a brown leather jacket, black halter neck and a cream bandana, Brown spent some time talking and hugging her fans, frequently telling them, "I love y'all!", before climbing into her waiting car to be driven home.

The scene was captured on film for use in her forthcoming reality VH1 TV show, which will show her adjusting to life on the outside.

She also has a new album, Brooklyn's Don Diva, due for release on 13 May.