Veteran rapper Remy Ma has signed with Columbia Records, a rep for the label confirmed to Variety, although further details were not available. The rapper, who has been nominated for three Grammy awards, released an album in collaboration with longtime friend and colleague Fat Joe called “Pata O Plomo” earlier this year, which included the Grammy-nominated single “All the Way Up.”
Ma, 37, grew up in the Bronx and early in her career caught the attention of Big Pun, who featured her (under the name Remy Martin) on his album “Yeeeah Baby,” which was released after his February 2000 death from a heart attack. Fellow Bronx rapper Fat Joe soon brought her into his Terror Squad, which earned a Grammy nomination in 2005 for the song “Lean Back.” She released her debut album “There’s Something About Remy” in 2006, but the following year was arrested and in 2008 found guilty of two charges of assault in connection with an incident in which her friend Makeda Barnes-Joseph was shot twice while the two women argued in a car. Ma was released in 2014.
She joined the cast of VH1’s “Love & Hip-Hop: New York” in 2015 for the show’s sixth season and for its eighth, which premieres tonight (Oct. 30). She has been active as a rapper since her release, appearing frequently with Fat Joe — including a spot at the Tidal X:Brooklyn concert earlier this month — and in February stepped up a feud with Nick Minaj that began some 10 years ago. After Minaj allegedly made digs at her in the song “Swalia,” Ma responded with a track called “Shether” and amplified it with a June appearance at Hot 97’s Summer Jam, during which she performed that song and brought out virtually every major female rapper (except Minaj) to perform the old-school song “U.N.I.T.Y.”: Queen Latifah, Cardi B, Lil Kim, MC Lyte, Young M.A. and Lady Rage.
While a Columbia rep did not provide further information about Ma’s signing, various reports say her next album will be called “Seven Winters, Six Summers,” which is likely a reference to her 2008-2014 prison term.
