Reminisce Mackie (née Smith; May 30, 1980), known professionally as Remy Ma, is an American rapper. Her notable songs include "Ante Up (Remix)" (2001), "Lean Back" (2004), "Conceited" (2006), and "All the Way Up" (2016). In 2006, she released her debut studio album There's Something About Remy: Based on a True Story, which was a modest success, peaking at number 33 on the Billboard 200 chart. She is one of only five female rappers to ever top the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and one of only three multiple winners of the BET Award for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist, which she won in 2005 and 2017.
Mackie is the recipient of two Vibe awards, two Source awards, and has been nominated for three Grammy awards. Since 2015, Remy Ma has starred on VH1's reality series Love & Hip Hop: New York, alongside her husband Papoose. Remy Ma cites Big Pun and Roxanne Shante as her biggest influences.
Video Remy Ma
Career
1980-2003: Early life and career beginnings
Remy Ma grew up in Castle Hill Projects in The Bronx, New York, 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. Her reputation quickly grew around the Bronx and word eventually got to the late MC Big Pun of her and her work. After one meeting and a freestyle session, Pun immediately became her mentor. Ma made her first appearances in the music industry on Big Pun's album Yeeeah Baby (under the name Remy Martin) on the tracks "Ms. Martin" and "You Was Wrong"....
2004-2007: True Story and There's Something About Remy
After the death of Big Pun, rapper Fat Joe signed Smith 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, Remy Ma released three singles from her debut album There's Something About Remy: Based on a True Story; "Whuteva", "Conceited" and "Feels So Good". The album moved 37,000 units in its opening week and 158,000 units within the first year.
2008-2014: Marriage, BlasRemy, and I'm Around
In 2008, Papoose and his cousin stated that he and Remy Ma were to be married, but due to Ma's impending prison sentence of potentially up to 15-25 years, the couple had changed their plans and intended to marry in her jail instead. Papoose whiled off in jail, but the wedding was called off for one day after he allegedly attempted to smuggle a key into the jail on their wedding day in May 2008. After the incident, Ma married Papoose the next day inside the courtroom right before sentencing and he was barred from visiting her for six months. Remy provided updates posted via her official Twitter and MySpace pages. In 2011, Remy Ma's music was featured and discussed in a documentary, Black Lifestyle in Japan, where she was praised for looking "stylish" and outlined as one of the most frequently listened to hip-hop musicians in Japan, among younger women. She was released in 2014.
2015-present: Reality show, New Albums, and supergroup
In 2015, Remy Ma joined the cast of VH1's Love & Hip Hop: New York for its sixth season.
Via Hiphop Wired, Fat Joe revealed that he and Remy Ma are releasing a joint album. He said "Me and Remy just wrapped up a new album. I'm super excited about that. The album is ridiculous. So we've been working musically like crazy." He reported the first single would be "All The Way Up" and will feature French Montana. They have shot the video and it was released on February 3, 2016. Fat Joe could not explain what the album would be called saying :"I have the title, but we're trying to see if we can legally use the title." On March 2, 2016 in an article with Darryl Robertson of Vibe.com, Fat Joe and Remy Ma stated the joint album would be titled "Plata O Plomo", which translates from Spanish to "money or bullets". The phrase was used by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar who would offer government officials and law enforcement the choice of taking a bribe, or having a murder contract placed against them.
She is currently recording and promoting her sophomore album 7 Winters and 6 Summers and third album PunisHer back to back as well as her next collaboration album as part of the all-female rap supergroup 3Sum, alongside female rappers Shawnna and Jacki-O.
Maps Remy Ma
Legal issues
On July 13, 2007, Smith turned herself in to New York City police in relation to a shooting early that morning outside a Manhattan Delicatessen. Police say that while she was with a group of people outside the Pizza Bar, a Manhattan nightspot, a verbal confrontation broke out at 4 a.m. During the entire incident, a gunshot to the torso wounded Makeeda Barnes-Joseph, who had been accused of stealing one thousand dollars from Remy. Police sources indicate that Barnes-Joseph later identified Smith as the shooter. Security tapes from inside the club showed no evidence of any altercations or arguments. Smith pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, assault, and criminal weapon possession.
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's boyfriend.
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. At her sentencing, the judge noted her disregard for the victim following the shooting--commenting that the rapper rifled through the victim's purse looking for the alleged stolen money, as Barnes-Joseph sat seriously wounded in the car. Smith then exited the vehicle, jumped into a waiting car and drove off, leaving Barnes-Joseph bleeding in the front seat. No money was found in Barnes-Joseph's purse.
The shooting caused Barnes-Joseph to undergo several surgeries. In 2007, Barnes-Joseph filed an $80 million civil lawsuit against Smith for damages, along with pain and suffering. According to her lawyers, Smith was serving an eight-year term at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Bedford Hills, New York located in Westchester County and was expected to be released in 2015.
Remy married her fiancée, rapper Papoose, while incarcerated in May 2008. During an interview with Hot 97 host Funkmaster Flex in July 2012, Remy Ma announced that in 22 1/2 months she would be released.
In February 2014, her husband Papoose confirmed that Remy should be released during July 2014. On August 1, 2014, Remy Ma was released from prison after serving six years.
Feuds
Foxy Brown
A beef between Remy Ma and Foxy Brown originated in August 2004, when an interviewer noted to Remy: "Right now, it's a lack of female rappers in the game. Foxy don't got anything going on," Remy Ma responded: "How do I feel about them? Stay wherever they at, don't drop a song, don't do nothing, let me be the only one. I'm having so much fun. I hope they never come out [...] Nah, I wish everyone the best of luck. Just don't drop when I drop. That's all I got to say. Matter of fact, just don't drop at all. It'll even be better." In September 2004, Remy recalled that after a rap battle with Lady Luck at Fight Klub, her refusal to "show some type of seniority or respect" to Brown became one of the building blocks in the feud. Remy also recalled that during the incident the two were arguing over a future rap battle, where Brown declined and allegedly stated, "What? A battle? That's for beginners. We sell records in Brooklyn!" Remy dissed the rapper, responding, "When the last time you sold a record? Get the fuck out of here [...] I'd rather be a beginner that's on fire than be a washed-up veteran. Are you fucking serious? Don't try to degrade what I do." Remy additionally revealed that a prize of over $200,000 was offered to whoever won the rap battle.
Another building block to the feud was Remy's recollection of her and Brown coincidentally being interviewed at the same events either "before or after" each other, where she would catch wind of Brown "subliminally" dissing her by making statements like: "I've been doing this for years. These new chicks, they['re] not on [my level]." In another event, specifically a Baby Phat after-party, Foxy Brown intentionally tried to bump into Remy. The occurrence resulted in strands of Brown's weave getting caught in Remy's bracelet, causing Remy to snatch her wrist back and yank out the strands. Remy recalled that Brown in response "kept it moving [despite a scuffle] she had with 'regular' girls in a bathroom [over cutting in line]."
In late January 2005, Remy Ma reportedly punched Foxy Brown inside Island Def Jam/Universal offices, roughly a few days after Brown "subliminally" dissed Remy during a venue at Jay-Z's Best of Both Worlds Tour and allegedly dissed her during a Hot 97 interview segment with DJ Clue, where Brown dissed Remy on a mixtape track ("We Hustlaz") and allegedly ranted: "Who drives 645's? That's wack [...] We sell records [in New York]. We don't just get on the radio station and pop shit." In February 2006, Remy Ma released a freestyle record ("Most Anticipated") that contained "slick comments" about Brown's hearing problem, and stated that she didn't care if it was offensive because "it was just good punchlines". In September 2006, Remy again joked about Brown's hearing, addressing to a radio show: "...now Foxy suddenly got her hearing back, [I] wanted to be the first to inform her that she's wack and old."
In July 2007, during her interview with Sub 0 Magazine, Foxy Brown dissed Remy Ma, stating: "When you lookin' at Fox[y] and Kim and sayin', 'Damn y'all make me wanna rap.' Well shit you disappointing me 'cause you sound horrible. You look horrible, ya sound horrible. If it walk like somethin', talk like somethin', act like somethin', then it is somethin'." Brown also dissed Remy's recollection of their disagreement over the rap battle, addressing: "Some of these female rappers have the wrong approach, they wanna be my friend. And instead of approaching me like, 'Hey, how you doing', another chick [Remy], 'Yo, what up with that battle?' And I'm lookin' at her like, 'You bum ass. Naw, I don't do that, I'm a business woman baby.'" In December 2007, Remy spoke more candidly on her dispute with Brown. She confirmed that although she disliked Brown as a person, she admitted she liked Brown's music and added that she was influenced by her and Lil' Kim. Remy later concluded her take on the feud by giving a shout-out to Brown's rival Jacki-O and stating, "If you look at every female that came out after [Foxy Brown] or when she came out with [Lil'] Kim, to Eve, me, Jacki-O, it even got to Latifah, like how do you [get in a fight] with Queen Latifah? Like, are you serious? This chick is a problem." In 2017, Foxy released a new single called "Breaks Over", a diss track aimed at Remy.
Nicki Minaj
Disagreements between Remy Ma and Nicki Minaj originated in 2007, when Remy took note of Minaj's freestyle record, nicknamed "Dirty Money", from her mixtape Playtime Is Over (2007). In the record, Minaj recites: "Tell that bitch with the crown to run it like Chris Brown/she won three rounds, I'ma need a hundred thou/like 'Chinatown' -- bitches better bow down/oh you ain't know, betcha bitches know now/fuck I got a gun -- let her know that I'm the one". When the two encountered each other at an industry party, Remy confronted Minaj and demanded answers about who she was dissing in the song. Nicki Minaj reportedly never confirmed or denied that the song was about Remy, however Remy Ma remarked in a 2010 interview, "To this day I still feel like [the song] is a stab at me; I'm gonna [diss Minaj] back for that one".
Since 2011, Remy Ma has stated that she supports Nicki Minaj and her success, but has added that she would be "a problem" to Minaj once she would be released from prison. On February 25, 2017, Remy Ma released the Minaj diss song "Shether" to her SoundCloud account, after several provoked verbal attacks were made by Minaj in her cuts "Swalla" and "Make Love" among the many sneaky verses that Minaj released exactly one month after Remy's arraignment and persistenly over the years. On the 12th of June 2017 Remy Ma took the stage at Hot 97's Summer Jam. During her performance, Remy brought out Queen Latifah, Young M.A, Lil' Kim, MC Lyte, Lady of Rage and Cardi B to perform "U.N.I.T.Y." After the group left the stage, the Bronx rapper launched into "SHEther" while a photo of Nicki Minaj was displayed on the Summer Jam screen behind her. During all of this she repeatedly directed f-bombs at Minaj.
Discography
- Solo albums
- There's Something About Remy: Based on a True Story (2006)
- 7 Winters and 6 Summers (2018)
- PunisHer (2018)
- Collaborative albums
- True Story (with Terror Squad) (2004)
- Plata O Plomo (with Fat Joe) (2017)
Filmography
DVDs
- Remy Ma: From the Grind to the Glamour (2006)
- Shesus Khryst (2007)
Awards and nominations
BET Awards
BET Hip Hop Awards
Soul Train Music Awards
Grammy Awards
References
External links
- Official Website
- Remy Ma page at MTV
Source of the article : Wikipedia
0 Comments