S. Samuel
Former Murder Inc. artist Charli Baltimore took fans back in time during an interview with New York radio station Power 105.1's "The Breakfast Club," reflecting on the fall of her ex-label.
Acknowledging their early 2000’s dominance in the music industry, Baltimore said the seemingly overnight success ultimately hurt head honcho Irv Gotti in the end.
“I think Irv just got distracted by all of the stuff that was going on with Murder Inc. All the fame that happened with Murder Inc. happened so fast. Ja [Rule] was popping, but I don’t think Irv was prepared for everybody else to pop the way that they did,” Baltimore said. “I think that’s what distracted Irv from what he should have been focused on — I don’t think it was Ashanti in particular. I think Ashanti’s record sales and the fact that he had her poplin’, had Ja poppin’. Murder Inc was just poppin’ at the time as a whole, it was more of Irv’s problem. It was a great idea, and unfortunately, my project was up next and that’s when everything started falling apart.” (“The Breakfast Club”)
Earlier this month, Baltimore reflected on the Inc’s one-time beef with 50 Cent and G-Unit.
“I don’t even know him, I just kind of got pushed into it by default,” Baltimore said, referring to 50 Cent. “I never met him one time in my life — I was with my clique, so it was what it was. It wasn’t anything personally going on, so I get it. [You heard my diss?] I don’t know which one, it was a few. You know, I was with Black Wall Street for a while. [laughs] That sh*t is so old. Yeah, so old.” (This Is 50)
Back in January 2011, Charli spoke on dissociating herself from Irv Gotti and gave her reaction to ex-labelmate Lloyd collaborating with G-Unit’s Lloyd Banks.
“I actually saw Irv in the summertime,” Baltimore revealed in an interview with DJ Whoo Kid. “Me and Irv aren’t on best terms but we speak, we’re cordial. It’s nothing. We didn’t speak for four years. So yeah, actually, we didn’t speak for four years but I’m over it. It is what it is. You just gotta keep moving on. Because if you [continue to talk about it], you just sound like, it’s almost like being institutional…[My reaction to Lloyd and Lloyd Banks collaborating?] One thing about Irv, Irv’s got a great eye for talent and Lloyd is talented. So it’s like you can’t hold somebody stagnated to a situation that’s not working out. Was Lloyd not supposed to work with Lloyd Banks because his Murder Inc. situation wasn’t working out? It’s just ridiculous at this point. No, I wasn’t shocked. If I saw 50 Cent and Irv doing a song, that wouldn’t surprise me. It wouldn’t surprise me. I’ve seen such craziness at this point, it wouldn’t surprise me at this point.” (Radio Planet TV)
Prior to a recent music comeback, the rap veteran nearly quit hip-hop altogether.
“I’m working on the album, actually, we’re finishing up the album,” Baltimore revealed in an interview with radio host Cherry Martinez. “The album will be out in April, I’m about to put out the first single and we got a lot of interesting stuff coming out. I’ve got a movie coming out next month. Guns & Roses 2. … I really wanted to do the acting thing, my manager, Crystal, wanted me to do the music thing, so we had to kind of like come together — we compromised. But I’m actually glad that she did it because I was kind of off the music thing and she was like, ‘No, you’ve got to do it.’ And then when I started working on it again, I was like, I got super excited.” (Power 105.1)
Check out Charli Baltimore’s interview below:
