Michele and I have blogged about a lot of celebrity weddings. There was the over the top wedding of Eva Longoria and Tony Parker in Paris. There was the extravagant wedding of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban down under. And just this past week, there was the low key wedding of Beyonce and Jay-Z at his Tribeca penthouse apartment.
But, I don’t think either of us have blogged about a wedding in prison – until now! Rapper Remy Ma (real name Remy Smith) is a Grammy nominated recording artist who just happens to be sitting in Rikers Island jail for assault, weapon possession, and attempted coercion. All this stems from the July 14, 2007 shooting of her best friend Makeda Barnes-Joseph. The two were sitting in Remy Ma’s car outside a Manhattan nightspot when shots rang out at 4 a.m. Ma said $3,000 was missing from her purse (who needs to walk around with $3,000 in cash in their purse?) and she thought Barnes-Joseph was involved somehow. Taken to the hospital in stable condition, Barnes-Joseph later named Ma as the shooter.
Although Ma pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, assault, and criminal weapons charge, she was convicted on March 27, 2008. Held without bail, she will be sentenced on April 23rd and is looking at as much time as 25 years in jail.
But that isn’t stopping her from going ahead with her wedding plans. She and fellow rapper Papoose are “very much in love” according to Ma’s lawyer Ivan Fisher and “intended to marry one way or another.” It will be a small wedding, as only two guests will be permitted to attend.
Ma was a part of the Terror Squad that was nominated for the 2004 song “Lean Back.” Papoose’s “Born to Win” was featured in the video game “Madden NFL 06” and was named as one of the “10 Artists to Watch” by Rolling Stone in 2006. Papoose (real name Shamele Mackie) recorded a track called “50 Shots,” which details the 2006 incident in which an unarmed man was shot and killed by the New York City police just hours before his wedding.