Charli Baltimore Interview

You were recently on a tour in Europe?

Charli: Yes, that's right. Ja Rule, Ashanti and myself were in Europe for 12 days and did concerts and promoting. We visited London, Germany, Belgium, Amsterdam and Swizerland. It was off the hook, and we got great responce from the audience, but it was allso hard work.
We was at the MOBO show in London, and that was hot...
You are calling from Norway, right? I've never been to scandinavia so i hope i can go there soon.

Isn't your father german?

Yes he is. I think he's from Hamburg, but i'm not sure.

Why is your album going to be named "The Diary: You think you know but you have no idea"?

Haha, it's a pretty long title, don't you think? I chose the title because
of my past. The tale of Charli Baltimore, with the argument with Sony and the past album, etc. I see that people hasn't understood me as an artist, but now Murder INC helped me develop. I've becomed a better artist, and the album will tell you about a Charli Baltimore that you never knew about. This is definately a street album, with some hard beats. That's what I represent. I've proved it and done several persional songs, because as I see it there's only a few female
rappers that has done this. The women has alot of shallow songs out there, haha. But myself, if i'm talking from a womans prespective i think men can relate to what i'm saying too. That dont mean i'm talking about tits and asses, haha. The album is a little bit deeper than that.

Alot of the tracks from "Cold As Ice" came out as bootleggs...

Yes, but unfortinately that was not the best tracks. The single I did with
Ghostface Killah ("Stand up") was good, and i liked the song i did with Mobb Deep.
The problem with the project was that Untertainment wanted the rest pop-music, and that made me do songs i wasn't realy confortable with. I could write cool songs but I wasnt feeling them myself. That mix of street and pop songs problably made most people not understanding what i stood for, so the title of the new album allso referrs to this. I'm happy that Irv Gotti gave me free hands.

How is it like working with Irv Gotti?

Crazy! Gotti and me have a great chemistry, and that's something thats new to me.
I used to work with different producers for every song i recorded, but this time i've been able to sit down and chill with Gotti for a long time. That's real, kind of like the chemistry between Missy and Timbaland. Gotti put me in the studio with the producer Chink Santana, and it ended up with that he produced all songs on the album.
Except for three. 7 Aurelius made 2 songs, i.e one that i made with Eve.
It's a remake of (Jay-Z & Notorious B.I.G) "Brooklyn's Finest". We got the original beat from Clark Kent.
I didn't want to many guests, but Eve is from Philly too, and i had to have her on there.

Except Eve, what other female rappers do you like?

I met an artist in London named Ms. Dynamite, she impressed me. Both with her singing and her rapping. When I grew up I was mostly listening to Salt-N-Pepa and Queen Latifah. I allso like MC Lyte. She's always spittin hard. Same with Rah Digga.
I'm feeling her hard flow. Haha, some female rappers I don't like are those that just talk about how they have a fat ass and big tits. Those
lines takes seconds to write.

What happened to Vita?

Haha, i'm not sure. People say we had beef, but that's wrong.
We were good friends.

When did you talk to her last time?

We talked right after she left Murder INC ,but that was a while back.
I think it was all buisness. Her manager didn't agree with Irv Gotti.
I think it's a shame that we couldnt have 2 female rappers in the same crew.
That don't happen often.

Did Notorious B.I.G give you the name Charli Baltimore?

It was more like we came up with it together.
We watched the movie "The Long Kiss Goodnight", and I said I liked
the name they gave to Geena Davis. Biggie said I should call myself that.
Realy it fits good, because just like Geena Davis, Charli Baltimore is my
alter ego. Because, before there was a big differance between Tiffany, wich is my real name, and Chali. But now i'm more self confident. I feel better now.

You are now married and have 3 kids. How do you manage to balance the carreer with your family life?

Well, I have to sacrefice some, but my family are great and show support me. They know my carreer is important to me. If i wouldnt have a family with kids, I would still have to sacrefice alot. You hvae to give up alot to be a famous artist. Normal things that you normaly don't even think about. It's not always as glamorous as it looks in the videos. But, yo, i won't complain...

You album was pushed from october to december. Do you think it will be
pushed back again?

Haha, no. It was pushed back because of the Ja Rule album. But now it'll definatelybe out december 3rd.

by stress.no