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Remy Ma extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Remy Ma
Remy Ma in July 2005
Background information
Birth name	Remynisce Smith
Born	May 30, 1981 (1981-05-30) (age 28)
Origin	Castle Hill, Bronx, United States
Occupations	Rapper, songwriter
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Sure Shot, Remynisce, Capitol
Associated acts	Big Pun, Cuban Link, Keyshia Cole, Daniel Gibson, DeShawn Stevenson, Jacki-O, Shawnna, DJ Kayslay, Papoose

Remynisce Mackie Smith (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 five 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

Contents 1 Biography 2 Reality Show, Sophomore Album, and Rap Supergroup 3 Shooting incident 4 Discography 4.1 Albums 4.2 Mixtapes 5 DVDs 6 References 7 External links

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.⁶⁷

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 were officially postponed and 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 no evidence 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 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. Ma then exited the vehicle, jumped into a waiting car and drove off, leaving Barnes-Joseph bleeding in the front seat. It was not disclosed if Ma had in fact retrieved any stolen money from the victim's purse.

Since the shooting, Makeda Barnes-Joseph has undergone several surgeries to repair damage done to her as a result of the shooting. She still experiences numbness in both legs and digestive problems as a result of the damage the bullet did to her intestines. In 2007, Barnes-Joseph filed an $80 million civil lawsuit against Remy Ma for damages and pain and suffering.

According to her Lawyers.Remy Ma 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 2013. Ma wed her fiancee, rapper Papoose, while in prison in May 2008. ^{14 15}

Remy Ma wrote a letter to her fans via GLobal Grind in Late 2009 stating ""I really miss everything but I especially can't wait to get back in the studio and onstage again, I've been writing like crazy," she wrote in a blog entry. "First off I'd like to send love to C-Murder, his family and children...Some people are aware, but I realize that a lot of people don't know that I have a son. He just turned 9 years old and I was able to celebrate his birthday with him and Pap, they stayed with me for 5 days and 4 nights. We had so much fun. I cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner everyday, sic? I baked cookies, cakes, and banana pudding. We watched movies, played board games and took a lot of pictures...I just want to say that I so love the 'Wendy Williams Show.' I try to watch it everyday. sic? I love watching the videos that are sent in of little kids saying 'How You Doin?' I couldn't pay my son to do that! I have to go on her show though when I get home."^{citation needed}

Discography

Albums

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

Mixtapes

• 2005: Most Anticipated
• 2007: The BX-Files
• 2007: Shesus Khryst
• 2008: BlasRemy

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