Charli Baltimore - Biggie: The True Story

In an exclusive and in-depth interview Charli Baltimore opens up and gave some very valuable information we are sure most rap fans didn't know. So sit back, relax and get to know Charli Baltimore.

The rapper talks about her relationship with The Notorious B.I.G., his wife Faith Evans and says that "Lil Kim wasn't Biggie's girl. They just f*cked." Baltimore also talked about a crazy situation at B.I.G.'s funeral and the rumors of her and Jay-Z having a romantic relationship back in the days.

What has Charli Baltimore been up to lately?

I'm focusing on my daughter's career. She started modelling for Ford modelling agency at the age of 14. Right now, she's the face of Abercrombie & Fitch and I've been managing her career. She just recently graduated from high school and decided that she wanted to get into the music business. She currently has two deals on the table.

How old is your daughter now?

I actually have two daughters. My oldest is 18 and my youngest is 13.

Oh ok. How do you feel about your daughter wanting to be in the music industry?

At first, I was kind of hesitant -- only because I came in it the hard way. I didn't have anybody to guide me, but she really wanted to do it. So, I was like, you know what, if you want to do it, you got my full support. Actually, after this interview, I'm on my way to the studio to make sure she's cool.

Can you get into the reported issues you have with Murder Inc. or would you rather not?

Yeah. We stopped speaking for four years. It wasn't a situation where I was dropped. I asked Irv [Gotti] to release me from the label and he didn't really want to. I mean I always had a great creative relationship with Irv and I believed in him as a producer. So, it took his assistant and my manager to kind of put us together for a meeting earlier this year and we sat down and talked and ironed out our differences. Irv said something to me that struck a cord which was "Yo! To me you was always the hottest chick in the game. As a writer and an artist, I always believed in you." I looked at that and said you know what'it's worth another shot. It's different now. The game is different. I'm not trying to step back into this game like "Yo! I want to be this rapper!" It's more of a business move. I have two daughters and basically everything is centered on them.

I understand! I have four! So I know exactly what you're talking about [laughs]. Trust me I know it's hectic. That's why you and I have been playing phone tag so much.

Man! I be in the studio till 4 or 5 in the morning, and then I gotta get up at 6:30 to take my other daughter to school. You know I don't do the nanny thing. I had my daughter when I was 14! I'm a hands on mom!

I knew we had something in common [laughs]. I had my son when I was 14. So I know me and you is rocking on the same page.

You totally understand it but a lot of people don't understand that. All of that, Why don't you get a nanny? Oh fuck that! These are my kids and I'm going to raise my own kids! Like, I don't need anyone to help me! I'm doing this myself so if it requires little sleep or no sleep then... for them to be successful and not to walk the same path that I did, and then it is what it is!

Yes! I feel you! Definitely! Being that you are in the studio and working on your own project when can we expect to hear something from Charli?

Honestly, because of how... I'm working on my stuff but it's not consistent. I'm not consistently in the studio and focusing on me because I'm more focused on my daughter. So I don't want to prioritize it in that aspect. Like mine will come when it comes but right now my daughter is top priority! It's important that she stay consistent because she's new. She hasn't really been in the studio that much so she has to get used to the whole hearing herself on records. I can't really give you a specific date. With me and Irv, it's kind of like a natural thing. If we are in the studio, he might play something and say "Yo! You gotta get on there right now". It's not a forced situation where I gotta go to the studio, I gotta do this record. If I'm in there and I hear something, I'm like "Yo! I'm getting on that."

How is your relationship with the other artists on Murder Inc?

I never had any problems with anybody on the label. I haven't seen Ashanti since I've been back. I know she's not really dealing with Murder Inc. but when I was there initially, it was me, her, Ja and Vita. Everybody was cool.

I saw a segment of you on Sub 0 DVD.

Uh-huh.

He was asking you a lot of questions about rumors. How comfortable are you with talking about rumors because when we talk about Charli Baltimore... Charli Baltimore is a historical name in the hip hop industry.

Right.

And because you are who you are, there's so much that I want to ask you but...

Go ahead. You will know if I'm comfortable, I'll just tell you.

In that clip, Sub 0 asked you a question about Jay-Z and...

Undeas.

Yes! Was there ever any type of relationship between you and Jay-Z?

We had a relationship that was based on a friendship at one point. Like with me, if I'm in any sort of relationship it has to be mutual. If you are mutual friends, then you are mutual friends. If you are mutual fucking, then you are mutually fucking! [Laughs] There should never be a point where one person is putting in 60% and the other person is putting in 150%. That goes with any kind of relationship. I don't know how Jay is now, but back then, I felt as though Jay was all about Jay. I felt like in any sort of relationship, no matter what it is, it has to be mutual. You have to have a mutual respect to accomplish anything, especially if you are trying to do business. Of course, everybody knows B.I.G. was trying to do the "Commission". It was supposed to be me, B.I.G. and Jay. When you're a female, people always try to pigeon hole you and put you in a relationship with somebody you don't even have a relationship with. You could walk down the street with any dude, I mean you could be hanging with Choke No Joke [a mutual friend of Charli] and somebody is gonna say y'all fucking!

Yeah! I agree!

I'm just the kind of girl who always got along better with guys. So anytime you see me, I'm either by myself or with my daughters or some niggas. I'm just a cool chick and I like to be around dudes. All my best friends are men! I don't have any women best friends. I been down that road and been shitted on by women. My best friend is a man. People accuse us of fucking and it's never been any of that. You know people have said there was an incident that occurred over me. [Editor's Note: She's speaking of the incident between Jay-Z and Undeas that Cam'ron mentions in his diss song to Jay-Z] I mean, I don't know what the fuck! If it did occur over me, I didn't know nothing about it. I don't know what that was about because I came after the fact. I don't know why this nigga stabbed this nigga but people are going to say what they want to say. People were saying I was fucking both of them and that's why it happened. Man! Whatever! If people want to talk about me then knock yourself out! People have been saying shit about me forever! So it's not shocking.

You're right! A lot of people do talk about Charli! I asked Choke for months to get me this interview with you!

When you step into this music biz your personal business is really going to be a priority in a lot of people's mindset. It's not necessarily a bad thing; it's just that people like to know.

Well, I'm glad you brought that up because Faith Evans came out with a book called Keep The Faith.

Hmmm.

In the book she talks about her experience with B.I.G. and she discussed you a lot in the book, but she never calls you Charli Baltimore. She always refers to you as Tiffany.

She shouldn't. At the time I was Tiffany. When Biggie and I were in a car accident that's when I became Charli Baltimore. It came from us being in the hospital together. I was already doing the rap thing but I didn't have a rap name. So she would call me Tiffany. I had discussed this with Faith. Me and Faith had words and we definitely had our little moments but we never had any physical altercations. It wasn't anything totally disrespectful. When B.I.G. passed, I called Faith and gave my condolences to her children because I thought that was the right thing to do. She knew about me and I knew that B.I.G. still had feelings for her. They were going through a separation, a divorce. The problem that comes is that Lil Kim made it seem like she had a relationship with BIG that they really didn't have. I don't aggressively go at it and try to dispute it, like if you want to make people think that y'all had a relationship that was outside of sex, then that's fine. That's your business. People believe that. So it's always like well, where did Charli fit in? Or where did Tiffany come in? Me and BIG were in a relationship!

Well Faith says that! She definitely says that you and B.I.G. were in a relationship!

Well, I want you to hear it from the horse's mouth so to speak. Kim goes out of her way to say she was B.I.G.'s girl. No, Kim wasn't his girl! Straight up! She wasn't! She benefited from the situation because she became Lil Kim. She has a career and she's grateful to a nigga for helping her in that aspect, but she was never his girl! If you're running around constantly saying it, you would think a person with half a brain would say... that don't sound right! That's like Faith constantly walking around saying Oh! I was B.I.G.'s wife! Like... we know you were his wife. You don't have to say it 100,000 times. So, I don't get into that. This is probably the first time that I ever went into that conversation publicly. It's only because you and I have a vibe. Everybody that was around during that era knows I wasn't some jawn he was dealing with. B.I.G. and I were together. He bought me a car. I mean niggas wasn't doing stuff for no reason. It was no game!

She definitely says that you were B.I.G.'s girl.

I was his girl! I have no ill feelings toward Faith because they were going through a rough situation. Me and her would argue, but I always tried not to be disrespectful because at the end of the day, they were married. I mean you marry somebody after nine days, you know it's not really going to work -- especially when you're both in the music business. I mean, Faith never really disrespected me at all. Not that I can recall. We definitely had words, but it was nothing like with Kim!

You know that was one of my questions because in the book Faith describes in detail how she would stomp out these chicks and the physical altercations she had with Kim but when it comes to you... she gives you respect. Like in a way, I was like well wait a minute if you acting like this with everybody else...

Even though B.I.G. and her weren't together, you know, he loved her. And that's real talk. I mean he might have loved her, but that shit didn't work out. I never disrespected her to the level of saying anything out of pocket. Kim on the other hand, I don't know what the hell she thought or maybe she's delusional as to what B.I.G. and her had going on. I don't know. A lot of people profited off of B.I.G.'s death but that was never ever my intention. And that's why I don't talk about it because I feel like there's no need to. I don't want to profit off of somebody's death. B.I.G. recognized my talent. Obviously, he hasn't written any rhymes for me because he died so I'm not going to sit around and constantly talk about B.I.G. My first deal, that's basically what they wanted me to do. They wanted me to constantly discuss B.I.G. I was like, I'm not doing it! That's not what he would want and I know him. We were together for 2 years. I think that people who should discuss it should be his mother, his wife or maybe his best friends. So other than that, I don't feel as though nobody should be running around here claiming all this shit on B.I.G. because B.I.G. didn't really like none of them like that! So that's just my opinion [laughs].

My other question to you in regards to B.I.G. was did you ever have any negative experiences with Lil Kim?

The only thing that I can remember is having a really crazy argument over the phone. I never had... and she's been in my presence many, many, many times because I used to go to the studio with B.I.G. to work on the album. I know Sub 0 said some shit about somebody rolling on me or something and I was like nigga [laughs]. You better do a little more of a background check on me before you start saying somebody rolled on me! Don't let the light skin fool you!

I agree!

My experience with Kim was an argument over the phone. I didn't know her and B.I.G. was dealing with each other. I didn't know they were fucking!

Wow!

I've seen B.I.G. flip out on her a couple of times and I was like "Why is he flipping on her?" B.I.G. would tell me she ain't doing what she's supposed to be doing. But I did not know they were fucking for at least the first year we were together. I mean I was around that nigga everywhere! I was in that Get Money video! She was there, I mean come on, and it was their video! I didn't know they were fucking! I had no clue! So one day we got into an argument over the phone. It started because I answered B.I.G.'s house phone and apparently she was claiming she had been there the night before and B.I.G. told her that we broke up. Fuck this! That's what she was screaming and hollering at me. I'm like, well, obviously, we didn't break up because I'm here and answered the phone [laughs]. I don't know what to tell you. She was like really screaming. It was a heated argument and she was saying some crazy shit as far as... I guess... whatever they did the night before, but my whole thing is well, I'm here today and I don't have to tell you, you're not coming over here tonight!

[Laughs]

I mean you could be mad. I don't know what to tell you. I wasn't in shock. I mean he tried to deny it, but I was like "Yo! She had entirely too much information." I remember one Christmas, B.I.G. had bought me this jewelry and I remember going to the studio and Kim came up to me and told me the jewelry was really nice. It was a bracelet and a ring. It was a diamond ring and she asked me "Did you get that for Christmas?" I was like "Yeah B.I.G. bought it for me for Christmas." Then I remember looking at her face like... it was balling up! She said it was nice, but you could tell it wasn't sincere, it wasn't genuine. Even after that it still didn't dawn on me. She was mad as shit though! I remember B.I.G. asking me what should he get Kim for Christmas and I was like shit! I don't know! He was like maybe I'll get her a watch and I was like "Oh! That's nice. Whatever." I was still not aware that they were fucking. I guess when she saw my shit, she just flipped. I thought about the incident that night but I had no clue. I thought they were cool. He wound up eventually telling me, but he never elaborated that it was anything deeper than that. After the confrontation over the phone, I remember her doing an interview on the radio and kind of like... they was asking B.I.G. was he in a relationship. He was like "Yeah, I'm in a relationship with a girl from Philly and her name is Tiffany." I remember him calling me because I wasn't speaking to him because I was like "You know this is crazy!" This is some real shit and he was calling me like "Yo! I just did an interview and I told everybody you were my girl." Like, I guess that was supposed to make it better? [Laughs] I was like "Yo! You really need to get your shit together! You got too much shit going on!" But as far as taking it any further than that... once he died, Kim was like she was his girl. I thought that was really inappropriate because at the time of his death he was still married to Faith and she had just had a baby. As a woman, she should've had some consideration. Everybody's different, you know, maybe she doesn't understand that because she doesn't have any kids. I don't know. I know I was really hesitant about talking about B.I.G. at that time. I knew that, that baby was a newborn baby and regardless of whether or not they were together it had to be a crazy situation for Faith to deal with. Especially with a baby. So I never wanted to discuss it any further than you know, the people that knew.

I see.

I remember being at the funeral and Lil Kim fell out on the floor and I was just like "Yo! What the fuck!" Like, Faith was up there singing and she was very composed and very respectful. And here goes Lil Kim on the floor and she starts rolling around on the floor! I was like "What the fuck is going on?" I was in the back, in the cut. I had some black shades on. There was 100,000 bitches there and I don't know what bitches was... Yo! I remember this girl Lil Kim walked up and damn near jumped in the casket!

Who? Kim?

At the funeral! I was like "Yo! This shit is crazy!" It was like a circus! I've been through a lot of deaths and I've seen a lot of people get killed. I've been to a lot of funerals and I've never seen anybody actually get into the aisle and roll! If anybody should've been doing that it should've been Faith!

Yeah.

Faith was up there singing, you know, it ain't like she was crying. She was singing like this was her way of respecting her husband. Meanwhile, Kim was rolling on the floor. I just thought whatever! It was bugged out to me.

Now I want to ask you your opinion on something. It seemed like B.I.G. had a certain taste in women.

Yeah.

He liked the pretty, light skinned women. I just want to ask your opinion on this, how can I put it? I don't want to put it in a way where...

Put it blunt! [Laughs]

Ok. Well, you know, Lil Kim has changed a lot physically with the surgeries. Do you think she has a complex with light skinned women?

In my opinion, I think that anybody that alters their appearance to that extent just has issues. I couldn't tell you if she wanted to be light skinned. I know she definitely looks a lot different than she did. I thought that Kim was a cute girl back then. You know, I don't judge a person on their complexion. I just happen to be real light. There's beautiful light skinned women, there's beautiful brown skinned women, there's beautiful women of all shades. But to alter your appearance to that extent, I don't know what was running through her mind to make her want to do that. Even if I was a person who was into plastic surgery... shit! I can't see myself wanting to change... I mean I might want to go to the tanning salon or would want to lay out to get a little sun but I think you gotta be going through something to want to alter your face to that extent!

[Laughs]

I don't think it had anything to do with B.I.G. I think it had something to do with what she wanted to look like.

The only reason why I ask is because she looks a lot lighter.

Well, she definitely looks different than she did [laughs]. I don't know! The plastic surgery shit kind of scares me. I mean, I'm not against people doing the shit to alter things that would make them feel better about themselves...but if you're altering your appearance where you are looking like a whole different person then I can't get with that. I know it started with a boob job and it evolved into something else. You never know what you're going to wake up to [laughs]. You don't know if that shit is going to work! That ain't cool.

There was a rumor that you were dating Maino.

I'm not going to deny that because I was dealing with Maino. He approached me. At first, I didn't even know who he was. He's not even my preference, because I usually don't go for light skinned dudes. He was cool and we kicked it for awhile. Shit didn't work out though. So it is what it is. I'm not going to deny it, I mean, Maino is alright with me.

Well, Charli, I want to thank you for clearing up the rumors for me. I've kept you on here long enough and I know you have to run but I really appreciate you taking out the time to chat with me! We gotta get up so I can take some photos and get some drops from you.

No problem, thanks.

- By NYC Gossip Girl (HipHopGossipSite.com)