31 FEMALE RAPPERS WHO CHANGED HIP-HOP: CHARLI BALTIMORE
Charli Baltimore didn’t have the slightest idea of the impact she’d have on hip-hop, when she took Notorious B.I.G.’s advice to transition from ghostwriter to rapper. The teen mom of two daughters at the time, went from proving her skills to those in her personal and professional circles to now co-owning her own label.
Her Relationship with Notorious B.I.G.
“I met him at a show. I wanted a picture of him and he wanted a picture of me. We were out there taking pictures of each other. [Laughs] It was a while before I was siting there writing rhymes and he was critiquing me. We were in the works to start a group called The Commission with myself, him, Puff [Daddy] and Jay Z but we weren’t able to have anything come from that because of B.I.G.’s death.
"I wasn’t intrigued by all that was around him. I look at people for what they are and take them for what they’re worth. I didn’t go out with B.I.G. I went out with Chris. It felt like it was [just] me and him.”
The Story Behind Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s “Get Money” Video
“I’m always playing with my hair color. When B.I.G. asked me to be in the video, he asked me if I can dye my hair back to dark. I said, ‘No!’ I had just colored it blonde. He told me that if I left it blonde there’d be some repercussions. I had never been on a video or video set so I didn’t know the impact it would have. I had no idea it’d come off as us dissing Faith [Evans]. I would never do something like that.”
“It was a total misunderstanding. I just loved my blonde hair and didn’t want to change it. It didn’t click to me because I didn’t know any better. I told B.I.G., 'You’re the artist, no one is going to care about me.’ I didn’t realize there was going to be much attention on me in the video. It was a learning experience.”
Female Rappers vs. The Industry
“It’s a male-dominated industry. You have to be an MC and a business man so people will respect you. It was hard because when B.I.G. passed, I didn’t have that backing or support. It was a hard climb. I was young, and a teen mom that didn’t know the business. I had the 'that’s all B.I.G.’ stigma. People didn’t believe that I wrote my own rhymes. I had to prove myself.”
“With my first deal with Sony Records, they wanted an artist with an image and the whole package. It was during the Tommy Mottola era. They were trying to market me as a pop artist, and I am not a pop artist. There’s nothing wrong with that but I don’t consider myself a pop artist. I felt like I was compromising my music. There was a difference between the music they wanted me to make and the music I was making.”
“People would tell the label, 'she looks uncomfortable’ and 'it doesn’t feel like its her.’ It’s about being comfortable with yourself.”
“I left Sony because there was a lot of mismanaging of money and misunderstanding. Irv [Gotti] was the one who opened my eyes to it. He came in only trying to make a couple of songs with me for my album "Diary,” and he figured out a way for me to get out of this $1.3 million dollar deal I thought I was stuck in. I found out that I could’ve left at any time. All he did was make a phone call and found out that I could leave if I wanted to. They (Sony) had been telling me that if I got out of my contract I had to owe them money which wasn’t true. Irv made one call and found out it wasn’t true. It diminished this love that I thought I built with Sony. I left before the “Diary” came out. I told them that they can keep the album and there was no bad blood. If it wasn’t supposed to be, then I’m not going to fight it. I was never shelved. I left both deals myself and left my albums with them.“
Murder Inc. Times
"Irv didn’t believe I wrote my rhymes which put another battery on my back. It’s an insult and compliment. He thought Cam’Ron was writing my rhymes. I had to go through bootcamp where he’d lock me in the studio for 48-hours recording and he wanted to make sure I wrote my rhymes. Irv had a vision to make Murder Inc. what it was originally supposed to be which was: Ja Rule, DMX and Jay Z, who all appeared on the cover of XXL. But because of all the politics they couldn’t facilitate it.”
“Irv had a female artist Vita so he never had the intention of signing me. He just wanted to help me because he thought I was dope. I wrote for some of his artists. He told people I could write from the perspective of a girl or a guy. He was running around as my cheerleader.”
“He broke the stereotype that cliques can only have one girl, cause at the time Vita was a part of Murder Inc, and signed me after I killed Ja Rule’s 'Down Ass Bitch.’ Since Murder Inc was more than a label, there was more camaraderie between us and it soon became a family.”
Unreleased “True Lies” Album
“'True Lies’ was one of my favorite albums that I did because it was so personal. My mom had just had a stroke and it was hard on us. I’d never experience that with someone so close to me. I was in such pain and turmoil. I was in a dark space spiritually. I just felt like I wrote 'True Lies’ for myself. It wasn’t meant to come out. It was my therapy.”
“In the midst of getting it ready to come out, I wounded up in situation where I am now, which is co-owner of BMB Entertainment. 'True Lies’ was my stepping stone to becoming a more spiritual, happy person, that now co-owns a label.”
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