CHARLI BALTIMORE, GRAMMY NOMINATED FEMALE RAPPER
The Diary.
Many of you only remember Charli Baltimore from her love affair with the late great rap artist, Notorious B.I.G. But she is much more than that. A female rapper with a penchant for boldly confrontational and proudly provocative lyrics. She's one of hip hop's best kept secrets. Charli Baltimore, born as Tiffany Lane on August 16, 1974, in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; with her German father and African American mother. Not only was it hard to deal with racism, but she had to see first hand, the abusive relationship between her parents. It got so bad, that she eventually was put under the care of her older half sister, Yolanda. Because Yolanda, (already married and still a child herself) always was working at the hospital, Charli was unsupervised and caused trouble, either at the mall or on the street corner, with her cousin.
By the time she reached the 10th grade, she had gotten pregnant and had her first child, India. She eventually went to Pierce College and majored in the fine arts. Before graduation though, she was pregnant again with her second child, Sianni. Sianni's father and Charli moved into their own apartment, but he soon fled the scene. So Charli had to "scheme & scan" men to support her family. In the summer of 1995, the Ready To Die Tour came to Philly and changed Charli's life forever. She had a chance meeting with the Notorious B.I.G. and they sparked a romantic relationship. B.I.G. soon learned that Charli had a little lyrical skill of her own and he was set on giving her an opportunity to showcase it.
She gained the title "Charli Baltimore" from the Geena Davis movie, "A Long Kiss Goodnight" where her character plays a spy with two lives, which related a lot to Charli. B.I.G. had plans for her. He was gearing up to start a group called "The Commission" which featured himself, Jay-Z, Lil' Cease and Charli. And he had also mentioned her to friend and label partner, Lance "Un" Rivera, of Untertainment. But then, tragedy struck Charli's life between '96 and '97. First, her father died of cancer. Then, Sianni's father committed suicide. Soon after, her close friend Lovell died. And then, B.I.G. was murdered. Nothing seemed to go right for her at that time, and she fell into depression, & attempted to overdose on pills.
After she was released from the hospital, she came to her senses and was back to her old self, just in time for B.I.G.'s funeral. She went to a bit of hiding after that, clearing her thoughts. And then set out to make her debut album with "Un". Days and nights went in to making her album, but due to "creative difficulties", "Cold As Ice" was never released, even though several singles were released. Untertainment was eventually shut down which left Charli with no deal and no album. She did a little bit of modeling, but wasn't happy with just being "a pretty face". After a long time of making demo's however, Irv Gotti of "Murder Inc. Records" signed Charli to his label and made her a member of the Murder Inc. family.
Charli's first official Murder Inc. appearance was on the single "Down Ass Bitch" from Rule's, Pain is Love album. The track peaked at 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 5 on the Rap Charts. A remix to the song, entitled "Down 4 U", which also featured Ashanti and rapper Vita, peaked at 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 1 on the Rap Charts. The song was released on Irv Gotti Presents The Inc., a compilation album that featured the first new solo material Charli had released in nearly 4 years. She teamed with labelmates The Murderers on a track called "We Still Don't Give a Fuck" and with Ashanti on "No One Does it Better". The album debuted at 4 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and was certified platinum by the RIAA for sales of over 1,000,000 copies. Following the success of these projects, Charli released the single "Hey Charli" to radio, and a hype single, "The Diary" to mixtapes. Both songs were to appear on Baltimore's debut album for the Inc., entitled "The Diary: You Think You Know.". While "Hey Charli" was poorly received at radio outlets, "The Diary" was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Rap Performance in 2002. While she continued to record for the album, she appeared on the song "The Last Temptation" for Ja Rule's album of the same name, and also on the "Rain On Me" (Remix) by Ashanti which would become the lead single from her remix album "Collectables".
After continual pushed back release dates & however released from her recording contract when Irv Gotti came under investigation for allegedly laundering money through the label regarding many issues. Charli Baltimore quickly signed with rapper The Game's Black Wall Street label and released three songs to mixtapes, "Swallow that Slug", "Bounce Back" and "Testify" featuring The Game and rapper Consequence. Baltimore was said to be recording an entirely new album to be released in the Fall of 2006 under the Black Wall Street imprint, but parted ways with The Game over promotional disputes. Just weeks later, Baltimore had now signed with producer Scott Storch. Charli is currently recording tracks for an album to be released in February of 2007. A mixtpae, entitled "The Dark Half: Volume One" will be released in October to build anticipation for the album.
To Be Continued
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