Discovered by the late rapper Big Pun, she came to prominence for her work as a member of Fat Joe's group, Terror Squad.

Ma's most commercially successful songs include "Whuteva", "Lean Back" (with Terror Squad), "Conceited", and "All the Way Up" (with Fat Joe featuring French Montana and Infared).

[4] She was forced to take care of her younger brothers and sisters at a young age and retreated from her home life issues by writing poetry.

[6] After the death of Big Pun, rapper Fat Joe signed Ma to his imprint label under SRC and Universal where she became a member of his hip hop group Terror Squad.

Their single, "Lean Back", topped the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks from August 21, 2004, garnered Ma her first Grammy nomination.

On February 7, 2006, Ma released her debut album There's Something About Remy: Based on a True Story, which was supported by the singles "Whuteva", "Conceited" and "Feels So Good".

Remy was frustrated at the way the album was being promoted by Universal and tensions between her and the label caused a rift between Ma and Fat Joe.

On July 7, 2015, Ma announced that she was joining Love & Hip Hop: New York for its sixth season, along with her husband Papoose.

[13] On March 2, 2016, the joint album was officially announced as Plata O Plomo, which translates from Spanish to "silver or lead".

The phrase was used by Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, who would offer government officials and law enforcement the choice of taking a bribe, or having a murder contract placed against them.

[16] "All the Way Up" was a critical and commercial success, receiving platinum certification from the RIAA, and two Grammy Award nominations.

[26] On April 26, 2018, Ma released the song "Company" featuring fellow Bronx artist A Boogie wit da Hoodie.

[32][33][34] In March 2020, Ma announced during an appearance on radio show The Breakfast Club that the title of the album had been changed to Reminisce, and that a release date was being decided.

In February 2023, Chrome 23 celebrated its one year anniversary by having a co-ed event which was headlined by Hitman Holla vs. Eazy the Block Captain.

The league continued its hot streak by throwing the "I Do What I Want" event in September 2023 which was headlined by Geechi Gotti vs. Eazy the Block Captain.

[43][44] On July 13, 2007, Smith turned herself in to New York City police in relation to a shooting early that morning outside a Manhattan delicatessen.

Police say that while she was with a group of people outside the Pizza Bar, a Manhattan nightspot, a verbal confrontation broke out at 4 a.m. During the incident, a gunshot to the torso wounded Makeda Barnes-Joseph, who had been accused of stealing three thousand dollars from Smith.

[48] On March 27, 2008, Smith was convicted of assault, illegal weapon possession and attempted coercion in connection with these charges.

Smith then exited the vehicle, jumped into a waiting car and drove off, leaving Barnes-Joseph bleeding in the front seat.

[54] In October 2018, Smith launched a new clothing line, with proceeds going to the Remy Ma Foundation to help women and their families who have been negatively affected by incarceration.

[55] After being investigated by the NYPD for allegedly assaulting Brittney Taylor, one of her Love & Hip Hop co-stars, Smith turned herself in to the authorities on May 6, 2019.

"[58] In September 2004, Remy recalled that after a rap battle with Lady Luck at Fight Klub, her refusal to "show some type of seniority or respect" to Brown became one of the building blocks in the feud.

"[59][60][64] In February 2006, Remy Ma released a freestyle record ("Most Anticipated") that contained "slick comments" about Brown's hearing problem and stated that she didn't care if it was offensive because "it was just good punchlines".

"[66] In July 2007, during her interview with Sub 0 Magazine, Foxy Brown dissed Remy Ma, stating: "When you lookin' at Fox(y) and Kim and sayin', 'Damn y'all make me wanna rap.'

"[67][68] Brown also dissed Remy's recollection of their disagreement over the rap battle, addressing: "Some of these female rappers have the wrong approach, they wanna be my friend.

[73] Although Ma and Minaj shared words of encouragement,[74] their relationship soon soured, and they began releasing verses and songs with lyrics aimed at each other, including Ma's "Money Showers" with Fat Joe and Minaj's "Swalla" with Jason Derulo and "Make Love" with Gucci Mane.

[75] On February 25, 2017, Ma released "Shether",[76] which contained a number of accusations and allegations regarding Minaj's personal and professional life.

[78] On the March 3, 2017, episode of The Wendy Williams Show, Ma accused Minaj of "trying to keep (her) off of red carpets" and "trying to make sure awards don't go to (her)".

[79] A week later, in an interview hosted by BuzzFeed, Ma stated that she had second thoughts about releasing the diss track and commented on the difficulties of being a woman in the music industry.