“I Want To Get My Back Blown Out For Like A Week.” Remy Ma Talks Post Prison Plans

In honor of Women’s History Month, Billboard.com has been spotlighting female MCs, one for every day of the month. And yesterday, they honored Remy Ma.

As you know Remy Ma, born Reminisce Smith, has been in prison for the past six years. The 32 year old was sentenced for allegedly shooting Makeeda Barnes-Joseph in the abdomen over a missing $3,000. Now, that she’s at the tail end of her sentence with three months to go, she talking about the now resolved beef with Fat Joe, plans for her career once she’s released, what she’s learned in prison and what she wants to do personally, biblically with her husband Papoose now that she’ll be a free woman.

You may remember that Rema Ma was featured on the hit Terror Squad song “Lean Back.”  And though the record was smashing the charts back in 2004, behind the scenes there was tension between she and Terror Squad front runner Fat Joe.

 “I think our issues came from our egos conflicting. [Fat] Joe used to give me advice on what to do and what not to do, but I didn’t listen. He guided me, but I didn’t listen to him. If I would have listened to him then, things would have been different now. If I would have listened to Joe half of the time…You don’t realize it at the time because when you’re young you think you know everything. There was a lot of conflict that could have been avoided. Sometimes when you have hit records out, you let that control your actions and affect your relationships.

I just recently spoke to him and we had a wonderful conversation. It started off a little awkward. [Laughs] We’re both like, ‘Just say what you want to say.’ We were both holding on to our egos. ‘Well what do you want to say?’ ‘No what do you want to say?’ We finally let it go. We ended up talking about things I want to do when I get home. He said, ‘I still think you’re the dopest female rapper ever.’ I’m like, ‘Really?!’ [Laughs] When you put egos and pride aside, and be the real people that you are it works out… I told him that when I do go home I’m going to make it my business that we talk more.”

Remy Ma also alluded to the fact that perhaps she wasn’t the one responsible for the shooting that landed her in prison.

“You can’t believe everything that people say about someone. I’m a strong believer that things happen for a reason. I’m not the type of person to bring someone down to save myself. I’m always one to take one for the team. Sometimes you have to sacrifice yourself to make sure everything else is right. At first when I went through what I went through, people said, ‘Why didn’t you work out a deal?’ I never took the stand. I let people say what they wanted to say, and I just took the decision. That’s the person I am.”

Well…

Anyway, Remy Ma also spoke about the material she’s been writing in prison and what stories she wants to hear on the radio.

“I’ve grown so much as a woman and as an individual. I know that I can bring something to the table that’s missing. I don’t hear the things that I want to say or have experienced; I don’t hear it in the music that’s out.

I’m writing about my own stories but also the stories of the people I’ve come across while in prison. I’m not in jail, I’m in prison. You’d be surprised as to how many women come through here and what they’ve experienced. I’ve encountered people from all over the world.  I’ve always rapped about my struggle and living a hard life but there’s a lot of things that are serious, like gang issues, immigration issues, domestic violence issues… There’s some women in here, 18-year-olds with ambition, who may never see the light of day. I thought I had a hard life, but I’ve now experienced a whole different world. It’s serious. I’m going to put it in my music.

I want to show sides of me that I hadn’t showed and tell my story since I left till now, and the stories of others. I can say I have at least 20 books or so of songs.”

And lastly, she spoke about what she wants to do for herself personally once she gets out.

“I’m going to get my hair done. I’m going to get my nails done. [Laughs] People see me as this rough tomboy. I’m a girly girl. And I’m married! I’m over here married, without my nails done. I’m going to get dolled up. I’ll then knock out a few things [and] lay down some melodies. I’ve written a lot down but I haven’t been producing so I just write and listen to the radio. I think that if I get in to the studio with some of these guys that are out – like Rico Love and DJ Mustard – I’m going to get so lit.” [Laughs]

“After I get dolled up and lay down some records and my voice is out, I want to get away and get my back blown out for like a week. Mess up the hair and make-up that I got done. I have been in prison for a while.”[Laughs]

Remy Ma is truly focused if she’s trying to lay down songs and get her voice out before she gets that work from her husband. Whatever order she addresses her desires, we wish her the best.