How Remy Ma's Own Struggles Influenced Her as Host of 'My True Crime Story' (Exclusive)

Remy Ma is opening up about how her past experiences with the law have helped her gear up to host VH1's new series, My True Crime Story.

In a new interview with ET, the rapper reflects on her time in prison, and why she can relate to the individuals featured in the series who got mixed up in their own criminal acts. In 2007, Remy was arrested on charges of attempted murder in a shooting outside of a New York nightspot. She was convicted of intentional assault and served six years in prison for the crime.

"Just obviously, from someone who has been to prison and who has been in situations where the headlines feed one thing and the media saying one thing, I really know what My True Crime Story is. Then to the point we just be like, 'You know what? All right, this is not me. This is not my life. I'm not going to let this moment personify what I am for the rest of my life,'" Remy, 40, told ET's Melicia Johnson. "To be able to sit here, talking to you, doing interviews, hosting My True Crime Story, putting out music, acting in movies, all of that goes against all those little statistics that said I'm not supposed to be anything."

"So it definitely affects me on a different level," she continued. "And I think when we see that, when we see that there are people who are not necessarily bad people, they were just in bad situations."

Remy told ET that she was approached to do the show a little over a year ago. As a true-crime junkie herself, she was interested from the start, especially after hearing how the series would set itself apart from others already out there.

"What intrigued me about it was that it was not just the rise and fall of people who had got caught up in whatever situation they got caught up in. It was the redemption part, the part where we get to talk about how, yeah they did this, they went through this, but this is where they're at now, and they're doing great," she explained. "Also it was being told from their perspective. Like you get the mastermind, it's My True Crime Story, for real ... they're telling their stories."

"A lot of people in these situations, they're not trying to be evil, they're not trying to be malicious," she continued. "A lot of them came from very poor homes, abuse, abuse in the home, physical, mental. A lot of them have a lack of education, didn't really finish school. And I feel like all of these things, in conjunction with each other, led up to the stories that we get, that it's cool to talk about the crime and the redemption."

Remy added that she thinks people everywhere will enjoy it, even if they "don't come from a life of crime" or have "never been arrested." 

"You can still sympathize with them and understand their situation, because you're getting the whole story from this person," she teased. "Most of the time, with true crime, we're getting it from the perspective of the investigator on the case, the police officer or the victim's side, never from the person who they consider the mastermind. So I think that's pretty dope too."

My True Crime Story premieres Aug. 2 on VH1. Hear more in the video below.

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