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Early yesterday morning a newly minted free Lil Wayne was whisked away from the incarceration facilities at Rikers Island in a fancy Maybach.  Now having served out the required 8 months of his 12 month sentence Lil Wayne is free and ready to get back to business.  Or is it just maintain?  Over the past 12 months Weezie managed to gross $20 Million despite spending a vast majority of that time behind bars, a number that’s actually up $2 Million from the previous year.

The success is in large part contributed to his vigorous work schedule he maintained just prior to his incarceration recording and shooting music videos at an insane rate to create a cache of new music while he was away.  Much of his hard work went into his latest studio project, “I Am Not A Human Being” which is projected to sell between 2 & 3 million copies and has made him the first artist since 2Pac to ascend to the #1 spot on the Billboard charts while incarcerated.

So now that he’s out what should we expect from Lil Wayne.  We already know from his letters from prison that he’s been hard at work, writing for his much anticipated Tha Carter IV album.  But could he challenge Jiggaman as the top earner in the game?  Zack O’Malley Greenburg from FORBES Magazine believes Weezie’s touring schedule is the key to that success.

Lil Wayne took in $10-$12 million last year, by our estimates, over the course of 44 shows before he got locked up. Assuming interest in his music leads him to sell more tickets and merchandise, he could rake in $20 million or so from a long and successful tour. Add proceeds from two albums, guest appearances and merchandise, and Weezy could feasibly rack up $30-$35 million in the coming year.

So how does that stack up against the Jiggaman?

In the 12 months from June 2009 to June 20010, Beyonce’s husband banked $63 million by our estimates — more than three times as much as Lil Wayne earned over the same period of time. But roughly two-thirds of Jay-Z’s total came from the advance for his last album, Empire State of Mind, and an ensuing international tour that included more than 60 stops. On that tour, he grossed more than $1 million per show.

Lets not forget that Hov’s planning a “Best of Both Worlds 2.0″ album with Kanye West entitled “Watch the Throne” which should generate some intrigue and more importantly some money in his pocket. Add that to the tour schedule he’s already booked and you’re looking at a cool $10-$15 million. Then you’ve got his new book “Decoded”, which is set for release this fall and already is in crazy heavy promotion. Sprinkle in the Forbes estimated $20-$25 million he’s projected to bank and you can safely pencil in Hov for another $30-$40 million this coming year.

Uhhhhh yeah.  Weezie you might be making money but not Jiggaman money, at least not yet.  His business savy and acumen has given his a few miles head start on the competition and despite his declining music career has shown no signs of stopping.