Charli Baltimore – Cold as Ice
Untertainment/Epic (Release date N/A)
Hip-hop / Rap
Charli Baltimore’s career is a mystery. Well, maybe it’s not a mystery; she was Biggie’s girl and he put her down. But the fact that she’s yet to release an album while being a decade into her career is certainly cause of puzzlement.
Charli Baltimore’s debut, Cold as Ice, was due to be released in 1999 on Untertainment, Lance “Un” Rivera’s second label. As usual, “label politics” came into play and the album was pushed back and eventually shelved.
The album opens with a disastrous attempt at an entertaining intro, in which Lance belittles, berates and generally verbally abuses Charli. And she gives as good as she receives. It’s a minute-and-a-half of cursing back and forth. Sure, it’s par for the course of albums of the era, but man, is it tough to listen to.
Fortunately, things get better. “Angel Dust” features Charli straight spitting for two minutes, followed by a duet with Ghostface Killah (in full Bulletproof Wallets mode) on “Stand Up”, while Cam’ron stops by for “Keep it Real”. Charli actually holds her own against these two—whether or not she wrote her own stuff is another matter.
But before long, things get bad again. Another skit, “Welcome to the Tunnel”, absolutely stinks, while the obligatory posse cut, “Motherf$ckas Don’t Want It”, is pretty pedestrian, featuring three rappers (cue scary music) who were never heard from again. “Pimp Da 1 U Luv” is as bad as it sounds, despite being ahead of the curve of jumping on The South’s tip. “Thorough B!tches” features Lady of Rage, Da Brat, Queen Pen and Gangsta Boo, guest stars you’d need a time machine to fully appreciate. And not even the predictable Biggie sample can save the song.
One of the gems of the album is the remix to “Horse & Carriage”. The Night Court sample is goofy, and hearing Pun and Cam on the same track again is a dope reminder of what could have been. Not even Silkk the Shocker could ruin this song.
Cold As Ice works best when Charli’s being unique (“They”) or teams up with strong personalities (Mobb Deep, Ghostface, Cam, N.O.R.E.), and falls short she plays it safe (lazy samples) or tries too hard (every skit).
This is a nice throwback to a time before things got out of hand and hip-hop became a minstrel show. But it’s barely an adequate throwback.
