#ThrowbackThursday means something altogether different on this 7.31.14 throwback Thursday.
If you know anything about the female rap game (extensively) then you know that one of the most fearless female rappers in the game (Reminisce Smith a.k.a Remy Ma) just got released from prison today after serving a six-year bid for 2008 conviction of attempted murder where a 2007 altercation began between she and a girl named Makeda Barnes-Joseph over a missing $3000. As the two began to struggle and fight Barnes-Joseph was shot several times in the stomach (according to MTV).
Best known for her part in “Lean Back” and her own song “Conceited,” Remy Ma was the female member of the Terror Squad whose other (male) members included Fat Joe, the late Big Pun, DJ Khaled, Cuban Link, and Tony Seis.
After the heart-attack death of Big Pun, Tony Seis and Cuban Link left the group and were replaced by Tony Sunshine and Remy Ma.
There’s an interesting dichotomy in this situation with her release into society: She was close personal friend/rumored lover turned enemy of the Onika Miraj a.k.a rapper “Nicki Minaj” before Nicki made it to the mainstream and signed with Young Money.
http://youtu.be/nEoYwdK6ahw
Rumors were circulating that this was Onika Miraj pre “Nicki Minaj”—right before Remy got knocked off and Nicki got on. Whether the girl on the video tape be her or not, while Onika Miraj was just her close personal friend and aspiring rapper at the time [while Remy Ma was at the top of her game] just before she (Remy) could continue her reign, trouble in the streets was lurking around the corner. Things popped off and Remy Ma got popped for six years as a result.
Meanwhile, back in the underground rap circuit a young, a hot girl rapping going by the name of Nicki Minaj was grinding.
Fast forward she was signed…to Lil’ Wayne and Birdman’s Young Money/Cash Money Records-right during the time Remy Ma was walking behind the cell block of closed doors for the next six years.
It was like they traded places overnight.
Uncanny turn of events, I tell ya.
Well, it’s been six years now. Do the math. That girl named Nicki Minaj who by the way, not only had signed in with Cash Money Records, had too, cashed in her underground style and revamped herself into an image that was atypical for the female rap game—and something the female rap game had never seen before: Where other rappers may have referred to themselves as black Barbie’s Nicki Minaj personified it—and took over all mainstream lanes of the female rap game.
Nicki’s been on top for the past six years and ever since, (whether for personal, professional, or strategic reasons) no other female rapper has been able to get into the game to rump with her formula:
Her Unique Name (“Minaj” a sexual tease of a kind of knock-off for “ménage a trios”)
Her Unique Image (Barbie: Colorful clothes and hair-down to mannerisms and blinking like a walking, life-sized Barbie)
Her Unique Rapping Style (Both a mix of a Barb character being brought to life with unexpected doses of Nicki’s lyrical underground flow that went over the heads of the G rated audience and somehow—sent her right on through easy street-with nobody to compete.
…All three formulas were a package deal that took the world by storm and made many girls who never identified with, or look like Barbie feel they too, could be, and look like Barbie (thanks to their HBIC: Head Barb in Charge: Nicki Minaj).
It became a movement.
Some called it a gimmick.
Whatever you wanted to call it, there was still one fact no one could knock her for:
You couldn’t front on her because she had underground street rap cred to prove that she could play the best of both worlds at any given moment and at any given time.
http://youtu.be/BZRdrUT3ufU
But right now, she “Nicki Minaj,” was riding this ride-doing just fine.
Still at the top of the game, now, her old close personal friend Remy Ma has been released-all lanes still clear. Remy Ma had no fear, then (or especially now I’m sure).
Nicki Minaj may very well just get her competition after all-from her close personal friend.
Former HOT 97 Radio host Angie Martinez hit it first (last month-July): She snagged the first interview with Remy before her release, where Remy had this to say [about her old chum Nicki, and how things have gone since she’s been away]:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTyTRqTpTDs
“Nicki has always been a supporter and vice versa. I like what she does. She’s done wonderful things for females, but I just wish there was more of them. I don’t know what they’re doing. They’re letting these guys take over.”
…Well, all except Nicki Minaj…
According to our source, the Conceited rapper [one of only five female rappers to ever have a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with Terror Squad’s number one single “Lean Back,” who too, is the winner of two Vibe awards, two Source awards, one ASCAP pop award, and a 2005 BET award for “Best Female Hip Hop”] 
…Remy Ma was released today supporters, fancy cars, and into the arms of her husband Papoose.
Let’s see how this thing opens up, unfolds…and plays out. Word on the street is… she had been consistently writing bars…while behind bars.
Stay tuned.
