Chuck B-More Gushes to All Hip Hop About Big

By kathy iandoli

Catch up...Charli Baltimore: The B.I.G. Picture, Pt. 1




AllHipHop.com: They show in Notorious Biggie building the character of Lil’ Kim. How instrumental was Biggie in the building of Charli Baltimore?



Charli Baltimore: I’ve always been me. My style is my style. I guess that’s why Big liked me. Big would come to me for advice about Kim. He was building an artist. As far as I was concerned, I never really had the chance because Big passed before we were able to capitalize or move forward with The Commission, which was our group. As far as [Kim’s] style is concerned, I don’t think you can make somebody an anything. He definitely asked me my advice like what do you think about Kim and how should I approach this and that. I always offered my input. At the end of the day, she still came out the way she came out.



AllHipHop.com: The VIBE article that recently came out talks about how Kim had a problem with this film; she didn’t like how she was portrayed. In the film, she’s a really sympathetic character because she’s getting thrown around the soundbooth by Big, and she’s crying like, “Why doesn’t he love me?” Another thing that she had a problem with was Naturi Naughton being too dark and how she wanted Christina Milian to portray her because she felt it was more accurate.



Charli Baltimore: Wanted Christina Milian to portray her as Lil’ Kim? I wasn’t aware they were the same complexion [laughs]. Again I didn’t see the movie but last I checked, well I don’t know what color she is right now, but she was brown-skinned. Maybe she’s light-skinned now. I don’t know. People change skin tones in this day and age. I can’t see Christina Milian portraying Lil Kim. That’s not…that seems really weird to me, but you know, to each his own.



AllHipHop.com: They showed some violent scenes between Lil’ Kim and Big. Did you witness any of that?



Charli Baltimore: The only violence I ever saw was a situation where Big and I were together on the bus and my clothes were strewn all over the bus and I couldn’t figure out why…I didn’t know what was going on at the time. I said, “Why are my clothes all over the bus like this? They were folded up nice and neat.” We were in the back of the bus and I walked off the bus and when I was coming back on…Kim was getting kicked off the bus…foot to her butt, onto the ground. She had rummaged through my clothing, Big was upset about it and he kicked her on the butt off the bus. That was the only violence I’ve ever seen between them.



I mean he’s never touched me on a physical level of any sort, so I don’t know. But like I said, it was a while before I knew they had a personal relationship. We were in videos and everything together, Kim and I. We spoke, we had conversations and everything. Things got a little out of hand towards the end, but it was never anything physical, nah. Not with me and her anyway. I’ve never seen Big strike her. I’ve overheard conversations…later, not during that time…when I came into the industry where it was a weird conversation I overheard that said when you have a female artist, there’s always someone that needs to have sex with that person to gain control over the female.



I felt like that was the most ignorant thing I’ve ever heard and it was a conversation actually between Un and Big. So I guess they were debating who should have sexual control over the situation to garner control of the project, because towards the end of Kim’s project there were a lot of problems. So I would say other than that, no I’ve never seen anything.



AllHipHop.com: You and Kim were in the “Get Money” video together…you play Faith.



Charli Baltimore: That’s another thing I’d love to clear up, please, if we can. I’ve said this a zillion times and for some reason people just never listen…I was not playing Faith in that video. I’m a Philly girl. They dye their hair all different colors. I actually had blonde short hair at the time, and I’m a teenager. I’m a teenager, never been in a video…I’m not thinking if I have blonde hair I’m going to be perceived as Faith. That was not the intention. I would never as a woman, a self-respecting woman, portray another woman in a video. Unless we’re doing a movie and we’re doing some sort of biopic, I’d never portray Faith in a video.



I was portraying the person that Big was talking about in the song. It wasn’t Faith either, it was just a record. It was never directed towards Faith. If I had brown hair, they would have never said anything of the sort. Just to clarify that, Big told me, “Yo, before we do this video ma, please dye you hair back brown.” I’m a Philly girl, at the time I’m wearing weave, I’m like, “No n***a I done dyed my hair blonde, I’m not dying it back brown. I’m standing my ground with the blonde hair.”



If I would have known the repercussions that came behind me having this hair, and people saying I was dissing Faith or portraying her in any sense, I would have never done it. Big did definitely asked me to change my hair color. So no, as a self-respecting female, I would never portray another woman, especially someone’s wife in a video. I would never do that so I’d like to clear that up. That was never the case. I just so happened to coincidentally have blonde hair and that’s that.



READ THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE.