There’s something so intoxicating about Chelly The MC’s “Northeast Baby,” that any fan of contemporary rap would be hard pressed to not—at the bare minimum—look into what else the Washington, DC native has in her catalog after hearing it. That’s at least the reaction the song got out of me when I came across it doing my usual digging for music out of the Baltimore/DMV region some time back in 2018. Though it isn’t the first song she ever released by any stretch, it has the core qualities of an introductory track to pull listeners in: a catchy-as-hell hook, geographical specificity, and palpable passion coming through the speakers. And the video only bolsters these key markers. In it, she hops around her Northeast quadrant of the nation capital with friends, while her signature fiery red locs swing. From that point of discovery, I found Chelly to be one of the more exciting artists in the area due to her ability to stand her own on tracks that can equally cater to rap purists (due to her lyrical skill and strong vocal presence) and young fans, because of her grit and adaptability on different production styles.
On her debut project, Halfway There—which is a nod to her steady career incline—that dropped in late 2018, over seven tracks, Chelly is more open than ever. She speaks about learning the hard way on who is worthy of trust, not tolerating people trying to take advantage of her, and how she deals with adversaries. In just a small sample size, it frames her as one of the area’s more promising and varied artist. And considering that the bulk of artists popping from the DMV of late have primarily been from PG County, Maryland, Chelly also is in position to articulate the experience of someone who has lived and grown in a rapidly changing city. During a recent conversation, Chelly spoke about her gaining courage as an artist, wanting to be more personal in her music, and more.
When did you become comfortable with your voice?
I would say around 2014-2015. I was rapping longer than that but as far as getting into it, I was always comfortable with who I was as an artist but things didn’t always go as planned. I wasn’t in the studio consistently. I wasn’t always recording. But I was always writing. So around then, I was in the studio consistently.
My introduction to you was “Northeast Baby” but I went back on your YouTube channel and found “Set Em Up” from 2013—
That’s embarrassing (laughs).
It’s embarrassing?
It’s embarrassing but it’s good too. At one time I thought about taking it down but I want people to see that.
I liked it because I got to see where you came from. Also because it’s a story. But it was appealing to me because it had elements of people like La Chat or others from within the Three 6 Mafia camp. Did you listen to them at all?
I actually didn’t but I get what you mean when you say that.
Was rapping always cool to you? Because I know a lot of DC artists grew up more on go-go.
Go-go was really lit but because of how I was raised, I wasn’t really out here. So I wasn’t in the go-go’s or none of that. I was always into singing and doing poetry. I was into poetry hard. I stayed in the house or I was in my neighborhood. I didn’t really have permission to go out like that. But a couple of [go-go] songs I do know. We need to bring it back. I like go-go remixes. It just got a bounce to it.
You thinking about doing one?
Yeah I actually would. I want one for “Northeast Baby” so bad. That extra bounce would be perfect.
With “Northeast Baby” being your breakout, why do you think the people took to it the way they did?
I wasn’t really expecting it to break out the way it did. I had wrote the hook to a different beat before I even thought about making it into what it is. I was never gon use it. I was in the studio one day and I linked with a producer. We had worked on one song and we had more time in the studio and I couldn’t find the beat that I wrote the “Northeast Baby” hook to, so after that he was like, “Let me hear it.” So I rapped the hook to him and he just put his own beat behind it and that’s how it came about. It crank so hard, I put out a snippet one day and it went viral—DMV viral, but yeah. I wasn’t expecting anything, it just happened on its own. You think of Chelly The MC, you think of “Northeast Baby.”
Did its success encourage you in a way that made you realize you can make songs that the public can latch onto?
Yeah because my Halfway There project from the end of 2018 crank. I love “Northeast Baby” but I love the songs on there way more. The more recent songs are fun like that but they're more serious. It’s another level.
What do you mean when you say more serious?
More of a message, more delivery. More of an actual story and getting to know me on a personal level.
Before Halfway There was it difficult for you to be vulnerable in your music?
Not really because when I really clicked into my creativity, I was releasing everything—anything that was coming to my mind. Like with “Set Em Up,” I could really care less about that song because it’s so old but fans always asking if I’m gonna do a Part 3.
As opposed to a lot of your peers in the DMV rap scene, you only have one project but have a following and base that’s comparable to artists who flood the market. Is that an intentional approach?
I think it’s good because I really think about timing. I don’t like to rush things because when I do they don’t go right. And to know that I’m the biggest female rapper in my city with only one project out—and shoutout to every female rapper in my city—I really appreciate that. But it is time for people to know my story and to hear what I got to say now. It’s a lot of DMV artists but a lot of people had their time. Everybody done blew up and got signed and did this and that. The DMV is waiting for what’s next. Especially DC because Maryland is already been lit. But DC need something next. It’s only up from here. I’m gon take L’s but Ima keep elevating.
