Remy Ma

Reminisce Mackie (born May 30, 1981),^[1] better known by her stage name Remy Ma, formerly known as Remy Martin and Remi Martin, is a Grammy nominated American rapper and former member of Fat Joe's rap crew, Terror Squad. Ma was featured on the group's hit song "Lean Back" from their second album True Story and M.O.P.'s "Ante Up (ReMix)." Her debut solo album, There's Something about Remy: Based on a True Story, was released on February 7, 2006. She is one of three female rappers to ever have a number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with Terror Squad's number one single "Lean Back." She has also won two Vibe awards, two Source awards, an ASCAP pop award and a BET award for "Best Female Hip Hop", as well as two other nominations.^[2]

Biography

Remy grew up in a dysfunctional family in the Bronx and often saw the consequences and terrors of her family's drug abuse with her own eyes. She was forced to take care of her little brothers and sisters at a young age and retreated from her home issues by writing poetry. She then took out her anger by framing her poetry into raps that she would use against her school mates during lunch sessions. Her reputation quickly grew around the Bronx and word eventually got to the late MC, Big Pun about her. After one meeting and a freestyle session, Pun immediately became her mentor.^[3] Remy made her first appearances in the music industry on Big Pun's album "Yeeeah Baby" (under the name Remi Martin) on the tracks "Ms. Martin" & "You Was Wrong"^[4]. After the death of Big Pun, rapper Fat Joe signed Remy to his imprint label under SRC and Universal and made her a member of Terror Squad. Following the success of Lean Back, which garnered Remy a Grammy nomination, her debut solo album, There's Something About Remy: Based on a True Story, went on to sell only 150,000 units in its first year of release due to Universal Records' poor promotion, but earned critical acclaim from inside and outside the hip hop world. Fat Joe and Remy were frustrated at the way the album was being promoted by Universal and how the label wasn't releasing the right singles.^[5] With the solo albums lackluster debut, Remy decided to end her relationship with Fat Joe and the Terror Squad, breaking her deal with SRC/Universal in the process. Her Debut Album as well as Her mixtapes The BX-Files and BlasRemy are currently in stores and online.^[6][7]

Remy Ma released 2 singles from her debut album There's Something About Remy, the club-anthems "Whuteva" and "Conceited". The album moved 37,000 units in its opening week and 158,000 units within the first year. The album received outstanding reviews from XXL Magazine with XL to Rollingstone and Vibe Magazine. She currently writes updates and posts it via Her official twitter and MySpace pages.

Reality Show, Sophomore Album, and Rap Supergroup

After her departure from Terror Squad, which was confirmed on April 10th 2007, Remy had a slew of new deals and offers coming from both record companies and television alike. She was in talks to record her own reality TV show in which cameras would follow her hectic life as a female rapper in the male-dominated rap scene. She was also busy recording what would be her second album, titled PunisHER, named after her late mentor Big Pun. Also in the works was Remy's debut album as part of the all-female rap supergroup 3Sum, alongside female rappers Shawnna and Jacki-O.^[8] All of these plans, however, were put on hold after taking part in a shooting incident that could possibly put her career to a complete halt.

Shooting incident

On July 14, 2007, Ma turned herself in to New York City police in relation to a shooting early that morning outside a Manhattan nightclub. Police say she was with a group of people outside the Pizza Bar, a Manhattan nightspot, when a fight broke out at 4 a.m. A gunshot to the torso wounded Makeda Barnes-Joseph, who was at the time a close acquaintance accused of robbing Ma for thousands of dollars.^[9]

Police sources indicate that Barnes-Joseph identified Ma as the shooter.^[10] Security tapes from inside the club showed the rapper with her friends, but had no proof of any altercations or arguments. Ma pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, assault, and criminal weapon possession.^[11] Smith was later charged with witness tampering and assault after an August 2007 incident in which she was accused of causing several male friends to attack a witness' boyfriend.^[12]

Remy retained the services of the attorney Ivan Fisher. However, on March 27, 2008, Smith was convicted of assault, illegal weapon possession and attempted coercion in connection with these charges. She was immediately taken into custody pending sentencing scheduled for May 13. She was acquitted of witness tampering and gang assault, charges which involved the purported intimidation of the boyfriend of a witness.^[13]

She is serving her eight year term at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Bedford Hills, New York located in Westchester County and is expecting to be released in early 2015. Ma wed her fiancee, rapper Papoose, while in prison in May 2008. ^{[14] [15]}

Discography

Albums

• 2006: There's Something about Remy: Based on a True Story

Mixtapes

• 2005: Most Anticipated
• 2007: The BX-Files
• 2007: Shesus Khryst
• 2008: BlasRemy
• 2010: Remy Da lady Don

DVDs

• 2005: Remy Ma: From The Grind To The Glamour
• 2007: Shesus Khryst

References

External links

• Official website
• Remy Ma page at MTV
• Remy Ma at Vibe
• RemyMa.com