There's Something About Remy

Having been a member of the Terror Squad since '98 when Big Pun discovered her, Remy Ma has long been waiting for her solo debut shot, and the first thing she does with There's Something About Remy is give Pun the opening spot ("Pun's Words"). I'm not certain if it's solely for homage, or selfishly for mass cred, but hearing Pun deliver the words, "..sometimes you gotta fool 'em. Sometimes you gotta send a woman to do a man's job, know what I mean? In this case, my girl hit like a grown mutha f----- man..", you're set up for a strong effort.

The entire disc has an energy and beat to it that's undeniably infectious. I'm sitting in silence writing this, and I'm still feeling producer Scram Jones' guttural party pulse of "Lights, Camera, Action" in my body. Her rhymes are equally pulsing, and have a biting delivery that, in case you weren't aware from Pun's words, make you believe this Bronx native can hold her own s--t.

The R&B offering of "She's Gone" is one of my favorite tracks however. It's less repetitive than "Lights.." (sorry Scram), and has a lyrically sweet street flow to it that's incalculably augmented by the sampling of Bunny Sigler's "My Other Love" (and when I say "sweet", I'm using the Dude Where's My Car intention, not the Sweet Home Alabama one), and this is representative of most of the album. While Remy can spit out rhymes with the likes of Big Pun, Mase, and Joe, it's when she's collaborating with City High's Claudette Ortiz on "What's Going On" and other melodically themed tracks like "18 Still", that her talent is most glaring.

While I'm going to come away from this album feeling her beats, it's not the engineered bass beats as it is the percussive delivery of her rapping that sticks with me, which is only more clearly showcased when she has a melody to guide her and stand on. This girl's a leader not a follower, so standing alongside someone else's beat is clearly not going to work for her as well.

I hope Remy learns from this effort what works for her and what doesn't. There is a dearth of non-novelty female rap artists, which means the first female street poet to take the mic in her hands since Missy Elliot first came onto the scene, and knock an audience on their asses is going to walk into a void no one knew was there.