Remy Ma: Rapper Who Spent Six Years Behind Bars For Shooting Friend Releases First Post-Prison Mixtape

Remy Ma wasted little time in getting back to her music career after getting out of prison.

The rapper, who spent the last six years behind bars for shooting a former friend in a dispute over money, took only two months to release her first post-prison mixtape, I’m Around.

Remy Ma went to work on the mixtape almost immediately after getting out of prison, and on Friday released her first full body of work in years.

In an interview the day before the album’s release, Remy Ma said that the project was a way for her to re-connect with fans after being gone for so long.

“They’re gonna get all me,” she told MTV News. “Everybody was like, you gotta reach out to people … I would have loved to do it, but I’ve been gone for so long, that I just wanted to give the people me.”

Remy also shared how excited she is just to be rapping again.

“‘I’m Around,’ the title [track], that’s one of my favorites,” she said. “It just pretty much states how I feel: I’m back, I’ve been gone for a long time, and I’m just excited. Like, I’m talking how I talk, and letting people know why I’m around. And now that I’m here, a lot of things is gonna change.”

Remy Ma, whose real name is Shamele Mackie, was sentenced to prison in 2008 for shooting her former friend in the stomach in an argument over money. At the time, Remy Ma generated controversy by her denials, giving interviews in which she appeared to downplay the incident.

But when it came time to face Judge Rena Uviller for sentencing, Remy Ma changed her tune.

“I’m not a menace to society,” the rapper said. “I’m not a thug.”

Uviller disagreed, calling Remy an “extremely angry woman” who had no remorse, sentencing her to eight years in prison.

Now that she is out and back to making music, Remy Ma said the rap landscape has changed.

“Before, it used be all about everybody being real,” she said. “Now, it’s like the faker you are and the more you fronting, you up. N***as is up. I come from a different cloth. I deal with people that’s real, people that go through real situations, and that’s the type of music I wanna listen to.”

Those who want to hear the new mixtape from Remy Ma can download it at Datpiff.

[Image via MTV]