(ThyBlackMan.com) Rapper Remy Ma will be free from prison after completing 6 ½ years for assault, and weapons possession. The conviction stems from an incident where she accused another woman of stealing $3,000 from her and shot the victim in the stomach, but Remy never found the money on the victim’s persons. Remy was sentenced to 8 years, and served the majority of that time that was handed down to her. When one thinks about it, Remy is a prime example of when keeping it real goes terribly wrong.
Now Remy Ma is out and is very excited about coming back in the game. In an interview with Angie Martinez while she was incarcerated, recently said that the game is now dominated by men and there is only a small amount of women that are representing hip-hop she was referring to Nicki Minaj:
“Nick has always been a supporter and vice versa,” she said. “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.”
One has to realize there has been a drastic make-over that hip-hop has been given, when it comes down to women. When it was an overabundance of women getting into the game and made an impact in the mainstream it was MC Lyte, Queen Latifah, Roxanne Shante, Monie Love then the other era controlled by the likes of Lauryn Hill, Lil’ Kim, Da Brat, and Foxy
Brown. Times have changed dramatically since then, and so did the look of the women who rocked the mic. Now women who are in the mainstream have been cut down to 2 and the other women have to scrap to keep afloat in the underground, some hoping to make it in the mainstream and garner success, as well.
The imagery of women that are in hip-hop has shifted. We no longer see the women in the mainstream discreet and subtle with their sex appeal. Lil’ Kim took sexy to an entirely different level, and Nicki Minaj has enhanced it in ways that I have never seen before, and probably never will. We went from the sex appeal that Salt N Pepa created, which were biker shorts, rope chains, door knockers and leather jackets and very subtle, to lingerie and album covers that would give the impression that it was an advertisement for a porn video.
This is the challenge that Remy Ma is now facing if she wants to get back in the game. Will Remy emerge again as the around the way girl, that boasts that she is taking all your money, like on the “Ante up – Remix” or will her entire image change to stay the pace as to what women who rap in the present has now become? Da Brat tried to change her entire style to embrace sex appeal, and that didn’t work well for her in the long run. It also didn’t help Da Brat when she also decided to keep it real by slapping a bottle on a woman’s head. Remy has a decision to make. If she continues with her street type of style that I enjoyed, she will be probably be placed in the underground slot, and gaining fans from the hip-hop heads who just want to hear a woman spit and not be distracted by sexy imagery. Then again, will the underground hip-hop fans pay attention to her long term or continue to embrace the likes of Jean Grae and Rapsody and ignore Remy?
Remy Ma also has to think about trying to fit in with the new star of hip-hop (according to mainstream media) as far as women goes in Iggy, if she chooses to want to dominate the mainstream. Once national attention is placed on a white artist who performs in a genre that has always been dominated by Black artist and started by Black artists, the mainstream media adopts them and markets them as the best that is doing it right now. Other women who can definitely hang with the fellas are left holding the bag. Things could get easier for Remy Ma, if she is linked up to one of the fellas that is hot in the game right now, who would like her to drop a verse on a track. That’s a subtle way of co-signing. That will help Remy Ma with the hip-hop loving fans, who will then fall in line and possibly support her because she is in a well known clique.
I wish Remy Ma well, because I like her. I don’t like her skunk weaves, (let’s hope she leaves that style behind), but I like her as a rapper. .Remy Ma may find out 6 ½ years out of the game is equivalent to dog years. It is up to Remy how she wants to adapt to the change in the genre, without selling herself out or just being true to herself. Only time will tell…
Written By Ms Scripter
Official website; http://for-the-masses.com/