US Hip Hop News Today: How Faith Evans Found Out The Notorious B.I.G. Was Dating Charli Baltimore
You are probably aware of the romantic relationship between The Notorious B.I.G. and Lil’ Kim. Yes, the love triangle which also involved Faith Evans got really messy. In fact, the “You Used To Love Me” hitmaker spoke about it on an episode of Lifetime’s docuseries Hopelessly In Love. Surprisingly, she also touched on another of Biggie’s love interest whom you probably didn’t even know was warming his bed ‘under g’ (Charli Baltimore) . Infidelity rocked Faith’s marriage though there was also good times.
If you recall, Faith and Biggie first met at a Bad Boy Records photo shoot in 1994 and she was charmed. He fought to get her phone number and didn’t ask her. Instead, he declared that one day “I’m gonna marry you.” They literally tied the knot days after their first meeting. Before then, she gave him and his crew a ride back to Brooklyn. It was only later that Faith discovered that Biggie snuck her number from her contact card that was at the shoot.
Not long after, talk of constant infidelity popped up including The Notorious B.I.G., his rap protégée Lil’ Kim and groupies. The strain and hurt became too much for Faith to bear until she found it difficult to try and maintain a home while both of their careers rose.
Eventually, Evans and Biggie separated for good when she discovered he was seeing Kim. She moved out of their Brooklyn home and into her own place and distanced herself from the Bad Boy family to avoid run-ins with her estranged husband. Biggie hooked up with Charli Baltimore when he went on a promotional tour to promote his new single.
According to Baltimore, she met Biggie when he performed at a concert in her hometown of Philadelphia. She asked the rapper for a photo after the performance. He then asked her if he could take pictures of her and they spent the next hour or so outside of the venue taking photographs of one another. From there, their romance grew and Charli went on the road with him. Biggie also helped her develop her rap skills.
“He had the best sense of humor and best personality so it was a natural progression into a relationship,” Baltimore recalled. “He was definitely different from any dude I’d ever dated up until that point. Maybe about four or five months in, he was saying he loved me.”
Biggie’s business partner, Lance “Un” Rivera, said that Biggie claimed Baltimore from the start and introduced her into the already messy love triangle that involved him, Evans and Kim.
Friends then started to report to Evans that Biggie was in a relationship with Baltimore.
“I just remember hearing that he would be out and around at places with her,” Evans recalled. “And I’m like wow he’s dating someone like that because he [Biggie] sure wouldn’t be cool if I was doing that, that would not be okay. I was still his wife and I was hurt about it.”
According to Cheatsheet, Biggie had Rivera call Evans one day and asked her to be his leading lady in a video for his single “Get Money”. Evans declined. As a way of getting revenge, he put Baltimore in the video. The issue was that the concept of the video centered around his issues with Evans. The songs included many subliminal disses towards his wife.
“He said I need a look-a-like faith that I can kick out of my house…I want Charli Baltimore in the video,” Rivera recalls. To make matters more complicated, Kim was featured on the song and Rivera knew it was messy to include all of Biggie’s love interests in the same video. He says he warned Biggie that it wasn’t a good idea but he moved forward with the concept anyways.
However, Baltimore was unaware that she was being used as a pawn at the time. “I had never done a video before so I wasn’t expecting the events that followed with people thought I was impersonating Faith,” she claimed.
Despite the labels attempt to spin the narrative to the press that the intention wasn’t to mock Evans, everyone knew otherwise. The word spread about the video and industry insiders waited in anticipation of the video release.
Kim and Evans were hurt by the video. Baltimore was Biggie’s new girlfriend who he was extremely public with, unlike Kim who he’d had a long term relationship with that he never shared with the public. Kim felt she was being replaced and Evans felt disrespected. It was a sign to Evans that Biggie was serious about Baltimore.
The Notorious B.I.G. and Faith Evans reconciled briefly and their son, Christopher Wallace Jr., was conceived.
Biggie was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1997.
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