“Right now I’m robbing the thief and F&&&&&& the rapist, This is Remy straight on the rocks with nothing to chase it, I’m a new breed of female, far from the basic and if you still can’t see that, then you need to get Lasik..So close to the top I can taste it..” – Remy Ma, “Crazy”.

Yo, there is just something about Remy. Yeah pun intended as that is the name of Remy’s official debut album called THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT REMY: BASED ON A TRUE STORY. Speaking of Pun. Without Big Pun there would be no “Big Rem” as Remy sometimes refers to herself as. What Big Poppa was to Lil Kim is what Big Pun was to Remy Ma.

Pun was her dearest mentor and friend who quickly decided to bring Remy into his camp upon hearing her first freestyle she spit for him up in the Bronx. In honor of that special relationship Remy chose to release this album on the 6 year anniversary of Big Pun’s death. Big Pun may have died but Remy picked up the pieces and hooked up with Fat Joe to continue repping the Bronx – Castle Hill section to be exact. Fat Joe and Remy would later hook up on the song “Lean Back” and the rest is history as Remy gained worldwide fame as the lone female voice of The Terror Squad. Now even before the release of her album Remy due to her collab on “Lean Back” has already been nominated for a Grammy, won 2 Source awards and won the “BEST FEMALE HIPHOP Award” at the BET 2005 awards. What the &^%$? That’s truly amazing for someone who hadn’t even released her debut album! But that’s the plan Big Pun had for her. Get her name out there in the streets to increase her credibility as an artist and eventually work on a debut album that would kill the competition. I’m happy to report Big Pun’s vision for Remy has come to fruition as her debut album has to be considered one of the best female debuts in rap history. In the album she showcases her honed battle skills she developed doing freestyle battles and in releasing dozens of underground singles on Kay Slay mix tapes. In fact I personally had heard at least 7 different Remy songs even before the release of her debut album. She’s a walking example of how a hungry MC should go about starting their career. Tear up the mix-tape circuit, rep the streets then hire the proper producers to put the finishing touches on a killer album.

On Remy’s Killer album she of course released the pre-requisite “killer” single to push her album to the top of the charts. The killer single goes by the name of “Conceited”. It’s a Scott Storch barn burner that contains that patented hypnotic Storch melody but it’s the clever chorus that drives this song to new heights as Remy calmly tells us “I’m conceited…I got a reason…”. The theme of the song is super tight and male or female can get into the chorus as I already used to tell people “I’m conceited…I got a reason”. Thanks Remy for coming out with my theme song! Holding back no punches, Remy also enlists the talents of super hit maker Swizz Beatz who gives her a track for “Whuteva” that in its essence is panic bottled up in a musical string. The frenetic pace of the song works well as Remy easily rolls with the chaos and spits hype club verses over the track. Then her label mate David Banner joins in on the fun and produces another club banger for Remy called “I’m” that has a clever chorus that weaves in and out of the track as Remy plays off the chorus perfectly.

But 3 club bangers does not an album make as if that’s all she’s bringing to the table one can just go to the internet and download those songs. NO what makes an album worth buying is the catchy club bangers mixed in with a slew of super solid gems. These gems represent songs that may not be as catchy for radio play but will be the songs that keep you coming back for more repeatedly as there will be so many different songs that keep your attention. It’s in this area where Remy TOTALLY annihilates her competition. On “She’s Gone” Remy sets the tone for her album and lets us know that she’s not to be played with and then gives us a gem of a song in “Lights, Camera, Action” that totally repaints the NY old school as she takes us back to “8-Ball jackets and spandex”. Truly this song is top 3 on the album not only due to the scorching Scram Jones track but it’s so surprising that a young female MC could paint so vivid a picture of the old school (but that’s why I’m pumping her up cause she really has transcended into the psyche of both men and women). She teams up with Fat Joe on “Tight” and we witness her lyrical savvy as she throws in mad ad-libs and teases us letting us know that she can toy with the competition at will and that it’s all about “me, me, me, me, me..”.

On “Secret Location” she gets downright scary with the gangsterism of her lyrics as she spits “If you hit me and I hit you we still not even, cause I ain’t leaving till you stop breathing, I want to see you shot, laid out just leaking, your words can’t come out cause your mouth keep bleeding, your tank top burgundy, I know y’all b&&&&&& wish them n&&&&& would have murdered me, Remy Ma you know of me if not you heard of me.. my weed from off the islands and my gunz is out of Germany!..”. The crazy thing is on the song she still has the time to tell you about the “strip pole” in her basement. Yikes! But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. She totally shows off on “Bilingual” as she proudly flips her rap in Spanish and English in EVERY verse of the song. LV also comes through for her by making the track on that song the HARDEST track on the album by far. It’s this song I zone out too and just have on repeat for hours. I love the whole Spanish lingo and the Spanish collaboration. Her shining lyrical moment though doesn’t even occur till you reach Track 16 which is the song called “Crazy”. Let me give you a sample of the mad lyrics on this song – “I say I walk around metal detectors, who does that?, before I said “Lean back” I told b$$$$$$ to run that and if they ain’t show me where the one’s and the funds at?, more or less I was going to show them how the guns clap…”.

But don’t get Remy twisted. She’s still a lady and throws her female fan base some dinosaur sized bones in the form of two love songs called “Feels So Good” and “Thug Love”. “Thug Love” features Big Pun and is a nice twist in the love song as she expounds on her fetish for Puerto Rican men and comments on how all the other Rican girls be hating on her. She also gives us an autobiography on her life in “Still” in which she mentions everything from conflict with her brother to the troubles she went through growing up with a drug addicted mother. But her ultimate tribute for the ladies is the way she vividly takes us through the heartaches of a woman trying to decide if she should have an abortion or allow her kid to live. As almost all of us has known someone going through the process we can really empathize with the deep lyrics – “So much to gain, so much to love, your mind brings pain when you’re the one who has to choose, there’s life living in my body but it ain’t got to live, It’s up to me but if I keep it what the f$$$ I got to give?….I’m young and don’t have s$$$ and if this n$$$$ decides to leave, my child will be a b$$$$$$…”. Man this song gives “Brenda’s got a Baby” by Tupac a run for its money. This album has it all. Something for the fellaz. Even more for the ladies. In general EVERY hiphop fan needs to pick this album up as it is a MUST HAVE. We’re witnessing one of the best debut albums to ever come out by a female rapper and I’m really excited to see what Remy has in store for us next. Will she build a legacy like Lil Kim or Mc Lyte? Or will she get complacent and flop on her next album? For the sake of hiphop I hope she makes it a point to come back out even harder cause she has the potential to be one of the best female MCs ever if she continues to grow.

Benz0
Contact Benz0: BenzWritings@Hotmail.com

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