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2/6/2006 How are you doing Remy? What's going on? You sound mad tired. They want me to do a million things at one time. How is that fucking possible? I have to do the interview, get in the car to go to the studio, write rhymes, it's crazy. Do they think I'm a fucking robot? It must be crazy with the album dropping now. Yeah, it is. It is. You would think I have enough stress with that. It must feel good that it's finally coming out. Yeah. It's just a lot of shit that's fucked up. I feel like the way it's set up, niggas are setting me up to fail. This whole shit is so political it's disgusting. What's been the most frustrating thing about the whole process of getting "There's Something About Remy" out? Other motherfuckers that don't know shit about rap, don't know how to rap, and couldn't make a fucking 16 if their life depended on it, telling you how to fucking do shit. They want you to go by a fucking format that never worked. Why the fuck do you want me to use the same format for your artist that fucking flopped? They do club songs, street songs, something for the ladies…Nobody's selling records. Get over it. I'm telling them, "Get over it. Try something new." They'll say, "We've been doing it this way…" You're not selling any records. It doesn't work. Maybe that's a hint. I don't like niggas playing with my career. A lot of time, y'all forget. To y'all, it's just a song. To y'all, it's just a video. This is my fucking life. I don't like people playing with my life. Is the industry taking you for granted? All the great people have been taken for granted. The ones who were the nicest, people like Jay-Z and Missy, have always been shitted on or turned away. They were denied what they needed and now they're on top. Niggas don't ever believe. You just have to do it. Then when you do it, everybody wants to take credit for the shit like they did something. That sucks. Tell me about it. Are you happy with how your album came out? I'm 100% happy with it. I wouldn't have put it out if I wasn't happy with it. There's not one bar, one interlude, anything on there that I didn't approve of. With that being said, I feel like I delivered what I needed to get done. You would have to seriously be an asshole to fuck up what I did. I see they're already fucking up. The world should have been hearing "Conceited" a few weeks ago. They don't understand. They don't listen. It's a new era. It's a new era. I'm still in the streets. I'm still in the hood. I still buy other people's albums. I'm still a fan. It sucks when you're not in control. I'm in control of my album in terms of making the music. The album is executive produced by me. But when it comes to putting out the music, commercials, promotions, all that dumb shit that you don't know about when you're sitting at home wanting to be a rapper, that's the shit that kills me. What's been the biggest problem with SRC [the label]? They're tight with money. They don't want to pay for nothing extra. They don't want to get no commercial. When you're making money and it's time to recoup, they want every dollar upfront first. When you need to invest money and get the commercial out, they don't want to spend. How are y'all a multi-million dollar company and you can't do shit? The company is not broke. Until you sell a whole bunch of records, they don't have any respect. This time last year, January of 2005, "Lean Back" was so stupid that we were on Howard Stern and Letterman. Now in 2006, it's a whole different story because I don't have a song on the charts. "Conceited" popped. The early reviews in the magazines have been all good and the label is sending out emails like they helped make that happen. Why did it take so long for "There's Something About Remy" to see the light of day? I didn't have a record deal for a long time. My new record deal came after "Lean Back." My first record deal was with Loud Records, and then Loud went to Sony and I didn't go. I was in limbo, but I did a lot of songs. I did tours with Joe, got on Big L's album, worked with 3-6 Mafia, Funkmaster Flex, DJ Kay Slay...It wasn't until after "Lean Back" and the Terror Squad album that I got my next solo deal, which was last year. Your album has a lot of different vibes. What did you want to give people with "There's Something About Remy"? I've been doing this for as long as I can remember. The world first started hearing me with Pun in '99. I still feel that people don't know who Remy Ma is. They know me as a member of Terror Squad, Pun's protégé, or the girl that's with Joe. After you listen to the album, I want you to know me. I want you to be able to write a bio on my life based on what you heard on my album. You hear so many different vibes on my album because nobody wants to be happy all the time, be in the club all the time, be gangster all the time, be sexy all the time. I want people to understand that I'm a regular person. I have feelings and a lot of different emotions. I'm not the "Ante Up" chick, the "Lean Back" "walk around the metal detectors" chick. I'm not just a battle rapper chick from Fight Klub. There's more to me than that. I think the album shows that. Do you have a favorite type of track to make? My favorite type of shit is about the shit I'm actually going through. I had a song that leaked called "My Life." My favorite songs are the ones talking about how I feel and my mind. Anybody can talk shit and pop shit on a record all day. Not everybody can express their feelings and how they think on paper so people can understand it. Did you pick all the beats for the album? Yes, I did. Even the ones that I didn't actually get myself…the only one I didn't get was the "Conceited" joint. Joe got that from Scott Storch for me. I listened to beats from everybody. It's just whatever I was feeling and whatever made me want to write a song to, that's what I picked. There were a lot of songs that didn't make the album. I had to cut the album down from a lot. I have enough to make a whole 'nother album. How was it recording "Thug Love" with Big Pun? We recorded that song in 1999. Alchemist did the beat, the same beat that's there. We were going to put it on his album, but we didn't want the world to get that first vibe from me. We wanted the world to get the Ms. Martin on the "You Was Wrong" verse. I didn't want to come on some soft shit. We were going to save that for my album. It just so happens that the album is coming out six years after we did the song. How did Pun help you? Pun made me see that I could make a career out of this. Not for nothing, I always rhymed and I always knew I was dumb-nice, but it wasn't until I met Pun and was in the studio that I saw I could actually do it. I never really felt like that until I got with Pun. Whenever you hear people talk about deceased rappers, it's usually 2Pac and B.I.G. Why is that? February 7 makes six years that Pun has been gone. Most of the time, when they mention deceased rappers, they don't mention Pun I guess because he wasn't assassinated. To me, he still died tragically. There is nobody that has come into the game since Pun that's had his flow and his lyrical content. Maybe the closest one is Eminem. I still haven't heard anybody of Pun's caliber. You and Joe have great chemistry on records. How do you guys work together? We work together very fast. When I get to the studio, I'm in and out. I do not like to stay in the studio. Joe is in the studio forever. By the time I get there, I want him to be almost done. We work fast. He knows that I can't sit there for very long without going crazy. We work good together. Do you see yourself in competition with other female MC's? Nah. I really don't. I feel that I'm so out of their league that it's disgusting. This is what I do. I write. I pick my beats. I format my songs. There's no chick that I could say has done that for every song on every album. Every one at one point or another has had a ghostwriter. I'm so better than them. Do females have to show their sexy side whereas men don't have to? Not really. I'm different. I never had to feel like I had to be on some sexy shit to get people to listen to me. There's some people that are dumb-wack and have no talent so they have no choice but to use whatever sex appeal they have to get the fans that a regular artist that can rhyme gets. Was it Joe's wish or your decision to not get involved in the situation with 50 Cent? It was a combination of both. It was more or less Joe's call. I'm a girl at the end of the day. It's not my place to get involved in that. Let grown men handle their B.I. Let them rock. You and Shells had a song called "No Problem" produced by Liveson, and then "Whuteva" with Swizz Beats had the same sample. What's the story behind that? When Swizz played his beat, it sounded so similar. That's what happens when you use samples. What do you have to do on your end to make sure "There's Something About Remy" is successful? I'm doing it now. I'm doing my interviews, I'm out on tour, I'm performing, I'm throwing out tracks left and right…I'm giving the people as much music as possible. The rest is in the label's hands. I'm a rapper at the end of the day. That's what I do. That's me. I'm learning the business as I go along, but I'm a rapper. I deliver great product. Now they have to get out there and sell it. How confident are you in the label? I'm not very confident. I'm not a follower. I always got up and did things myself. For me to do all this work and then put it in somebody else's hands, that's what makes me fucking nervous. I'm not in control. I'm real cautious about it. I saw what happened with the Terror Squad album. We had the #1 song in the country and I don't even know if that album is certified gold today. That doesn't make no sense. I've seen the biggest song in the country fuck up. That makes no sense. Their credibility with me is shot. They have to make me a believer. Are you going to find a new label for the next album? I'm definitely looking into that. What's up with the Terror Squad today? I'm focused on my solo shit because at the end of the day, everybody is on some "out for themselves" shit. I have to look out for Rem first. All that other shit, I'm not in control and I can't make nobody do nothing. It's just real crazy. How is it working with Prospect and Tony Sunshine? They're my family. We've known each other for a long time, but at the end of the day, that doesn't matter if you don't have nothing to show for it. What do you like better, rhyming on a Terror Squad track or a solo track? I like doing the solo shit better. It's me. I get to do what I want and say what I want. But I enjoy doing the group shit because I shine. I'm not saying I shine more than anyone else in the group, but I stand out being the only female in the group. What's next for you? I want to make this album pop. I'm already working on my next one. I feel like I've been held back for a long time and I have a lot of shit that I want to say. That's what I'm trying to do right now. What do you want to say to everyone? I know everyone says, "Go cop the album, it's crazy," but you need this. If you're hungry, this is a good meal. If you're running around, wiling out, you're going to find some wisdom in "There's Something About Remy." This album is like eight glasses of water, a requirement. Cop three albums, one for the crib, one for the car, and for the closet because somebody's going to steal one of the other two.

By Brian Kayser

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