Remy Ma

Hard-hitting rapper Remy Ma reached the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 and collected multiple Grammy nominations across a long career interrupted by incarceration. Born Reminisce Smith in the Bronx, she navigated a childhood environment shaped by widespread drug addiction. While helping raise her younger siblings, she also composed and recited rhymes along with poetry. Big Pun discovered the teenager, took her under his wing, and placed her on his 2000 album Yeeeah Baby, which surfaced two months after his passing. She later guested on the remix of M.O.P.’s “Ante Up” and issued the Swizz Beatz-produced track “Monster.” Her profile surged in 2004 when she joined Terror Squad; the group’s “Lean Back,” which showcased her on the second verse, topped the pop chart and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Two years afterward she delivered her debut solo album, There’s Something About Remy: Based on a True Story. Powered by the Scott Storch collaboration “Conceited,” the project entered the Top Ten of the R&B/hip-hop chart.

An assault conviction led to a six-year prison sentence that halted her recording activity; during that stretch she married fellow rapper Papoose. Released in 2014, she quickly returned with numerous guest spots and independent releases, among them the mixtape I’m Around, and joined the cast of Love & Hip Hop: New York. She reunited with Fat Joe for the 2017 album Plata o Plomo, which contained several charting singles. The lead track “All the Way Up” proved the biggest, climbing to Top 30 on the pop chart, achieving multi-platinum status, and securing Grammy nominations for Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance. By year’s end she issued the Lil’ Kim collaboration “Wake Me Up,” the first single from her sophomore effort. The deeply autobiographical 7 Winters & 6 Summers appeared on Columbia the next year.