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Remy Smith,¹ better known by her stage name Remy Ma, formerly known as Remy Martin, is an 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."²

Biography

Terror Squad

After the death of Big Pun, rapper Fat Joe signed Ma to his new record label, SRC under Universal and made her a member of Terror Squad. Following the success of Lean Back, which garnered Ma a Grammy nomination, her debut solo album, There's Something About Remy: Based on a True Story, went on to sell 150,000 units in its first year of release. With the solo albums lackluster debut, Ma decided to part from longtime affiliates of Fat Joe and the Terror Squad, breaking her deal with SRC/Universal in the process.²

Solo career

Ma has released a handful of singles from her first album There's Something about Remy: Based on a True Story: "Whuteva", "Conceited", and "Feels So Good". "Conceited" was the most successful, the album moved 90,000 units in its opening week and 158,000 units within the first year.² The album received outstanding reviews from XXL Magazine with XL to Rollingstone and Vibe Magazine.

Ma's second album titled "PunishHer" has yet to be released. Currently Remy's mixtapes The BX-Files and BlasRemy is in stores and is also available for purchase on Itunes and Her official sites remyma.com, myspace.com/remyma and queenofny.com.

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.³ Witnesses indicated Ma was enraged over $3000 USD that was missing from her purse and believed Barnes-Joseph to be involved with the theft, due to Barnes-Joseph being the last to have Ma's purse.^{citation needed} Police sources indicate that Barnes-Joseph identified Ma as the shooter and later went on to sue Remy and her business affiliates for amounts of $80 million dollars and $160 million dollars. .⁴ Security tapes from inside the club showed the rapper with her friends, but had no proof of any altercations or arguments. Police asked Ma to come in for questioning after they discovered the abandoned blue Cadillac Escalade, which had collided with a parked car a few blocks from the scene of the shooting.^{clarification needed} Barnes-Joseph was reported to be in the hospital in stable condition. Ma pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder, assault, and criminal weapon possession.⁵

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.⁶

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 13th. She was acquitted of witness tampering and gang assault, charges which involved the purported intimidation of the boyfriend of a witness.⁷

On May 13, 2008, she was sentenced to a maximum of eight years in prison, and a minimum of only 6 years in prison if on good behavior. Fans are able to write letters directly to Remy, with the mailing address provided on her official website.^{citation needed} She is serving her term at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women in Bedford Hills, New York located in Westchester County. Ma planned to wed her fiancee, rapper Papoose, while in prison, but the wedding was called off after the groom attempted to smuggle a handcuffs key into prison on their wedding day in May 2008. ⁸ After the incident, Papoose was banned from visiting Ma for six months. In the meantime Remy is seeking to overturn her 8 year prison sentence. She has retained the services of super lawyer William “Billy” Murphy, Jr. who is part of the prestigious New York Murphy Law Firm and also represents other rappers such as Redman, DMX, Mary J. Blige and Missy Elliot. ⁹

Discography

Albums

• There's Something about Remy: Based on a True Story (2006)
• PunisHer (2014)

Mixtapes

• Most Anticipated (2007)
• The BX-Files (2007)
• Shesus Khrist (2007)
• BlasRemy (2008)

References

External links

• Official website
• Remy Ma at MySpace
• Remy Ma at LyricWiki
• Remy Ma page at MTV
• Remy Ma at Vibe