This interview is part of “Pivotal,” a Q&A series where we highlight the defining moments that have shaped a star’s career — from breakthrough roles to game-changing milestones to epic moments that catapult them into the spotlight. Read our interview with Bryan-Michael Cox here.
Eve doesn’t get to do this often.
By this, I mean she rarely takes a moment to toast her rap legacy and reflect on the recognition she gets as a trailblazer in hip-hop. That’s not to say she’s unaware of the many doors she kicked down for women in the male-dominated world of rap, rising high as the first lady of the iconic Ruff Ryders posse at the start of her late ’90s run. The platinum-selling star would soon follow with multiple Billboard hits, a Grammy win, staple screen roles and an unprecedented trajectory that went on to change the course of hip-hop — and her life, period.
Eve knows exactly how far she’s come as one of the greats, so she doesn’t feel the need to debate what’s already been solidified. Plus, she has her hands full with other things these days.
“It’s not something I really think about,” the rap legend, 46, tells me of her impact on hip-hop, light chatter from her 3-year-old son, Wilde, picking up in the background of our late September Zoom call.
Fresh off co-headlining the Where The Party At tour with Nelly and Ja Rule, where she joyously reunited with fans around the world, Eve is back home in mommy mode. It’s quite a change of pace for the Philly-bred rapper who burst onto the scene as the self-proclaimed “pit bull in a skirt,” who recalls her tour days being a lot more wild compared to now. But being back onstage, performing for her fans, is an experience she values all the same.
“It never gets old,” Eve says. “I really feel lucky and grateful that people want to hear me, want to see me and still love my music.”
That’s the reward of being an icon. Few can say they’ve charted a path like Eve, and even fewer have sustained the kind of longevity that’s allowed her to cross over from hip-hop to films, a sitcom, fashion and more lanes. A little over a year ago, she added author to her résumé, too, with the arrival of her revealing memoir “Who’s That Girl?,” which finally allowed her a moment to realize, “Damn, okay, yeah. This girl from Philly really made things happen.”
“I really took the time to pat myself on the back and be proud of myself,” Eve said of releasing her book, written with music journalist and author Kathy Iandoli. “But before then, I don’t think I ever really took stock of everything. When you’re in it and things are moving so fast, you just don’t have time. Life is just like that.”
For this installment of “Pivotal,” Eve reflects on the career moments that turned her into rap royalty, the lessons she learned along the way, introducing her son to tour life this year and her unforgettable collaboration with The Purple One that she never saw coming.
In conversation with HuffPost, Eve looks back on her evolution from the “young girl from Philly” who could out-rap all her peers, to the trailblazer who broke barriers for women in hip-hop, to the multihyphenate still adding to her legacy.
What’s the moment in your life that let you know, “I can really rap”?
I mean, I was always into music. I started singing in choir and all that kind of stuff when I was really, really young. And I always wrote poems, but then once I started really digging into turning it into music, it just excited me in a different way than singing did. I started feeling like this is what I want my life to be. And I saw groups that were coming up, and I was like, “I can do this.”
I had the realization in high school, when I was about 15. At that time, you start thinking about what you’re going to do for the rest of your young life, in a way of like, “Am I gonna go to college or university? Am I gonna go out and just get a job?” And I think at that moment, that was the time I made the decision, like, Now I’m gonna try to pursue this music. I’m gonna try to follow this through because of the way it makes me feel. But also because I was like, I just know that I can make this happen.
Tell me how your chance run-in with Mase at the strip club made you want to take your rap career seriously.
It was just a confirmation of thoughts that I was already having. We had this conversation where he was just like, “Well, if you want to take things seriously, there are certain things you shouldn’t be doing.” Or, “You really need to put your all into it, and you really don’t belong here.” Those were thoughts that I was already having. I was surrounded by girls who really needed that income for whatever it was — they had kids, or they actually were going to college and paying their way through. I really wasn’t in that position in life, so it was just an encouragement and a confirmation of all the thoughts that I had already.
“What Ya Want” was your first hit with Ruff Ryders in 1999, but you were on another hit song right before that: The Roots’ “You Got Me,” which you were never credited for. Did you ever feel like that omission delayed your breakout success in any way?
No, it didn’t. It actually, weirdly— and I don’t know the exact timeline right now — but after that song, “You Got Me,” came out, I was on either a Ruff Ryder remix or something else had come out that I was on. So, when I did “You Got Me,” I wasn’t signed yet, but within that time, I had gotten signed [to Ruff Ryders], so it didn’t even affect my career at all. It just was funny that it was like, oh, here’s this new girl that’s on this song that I didn’t get this credit for. But then all of a sudden, my career actually started taking off organically in a different way.
Did that feel like your first hard industry lesson?
I guess so. I think because The Roots are from Philly, I don’t think I classed it at that time. Because I still was, obviously, so green, I don’t even think I classed it as an industry thing. I felt more snubbed from my homeboys from Philly. It felt more like that than an industry thing. Like, damn, really, y’all gonna do that to me?
But you guys are good now, right? Y’all patched it up.
Yeah, yeah. All good, all good. We talked about it.
These days, Eve isn’t too concerned with how much credit she gets for being a hip-hop trailblazer. “My accolades and things that I’ve done, no one can take that away from me,” she says.
How much of your success do you credit to being a part of the Ruff Ryders crew?
All of it. I wouldn’t have had the long career that I have and am having, and the longevity. When I was signed to [Dr.] Dre, there was, for me in that time, no A&Ring. There was no artist development at all. So when I got to Ruff Ryders, that’s where Dee [Darrin Dean] was like my coach, and it was like hip-hop boot camp. I had been writing rhymes since I was 12, 13, but I had not been writing songs. I’d learned how to write songs when I got with the Ruff Ryders. So I feel like my career, my success, everything comes off of being with that crew.
What do you remember about recording your debut album, “Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders’ First Lady”?
I mean, it was my Philly album. I had all my Philly friends in the studio with me in New York. I had a small apartment in Harlem that we all lived at, but I barely was in because I was living at the studio. Before that even, I was living out of a little motel in Jersey, so I remember so many things. Mase also came to visit me while I was recording that album, and it was amazing. That was my first real taste of everything, because the studio that I was recording in, every artist was at. So for me, being this young girl from Philly, I’m like, “Wow, here’s Busta Rhymes [and] whoever else walking through the door.” I was like, “Oh, wow. I’m part of this special clubhouse,” in a way. It was an amazing album. It was fun to record, and it was a very fun experience.
You became the third female rapper to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with that album. How did it feel to accomplish something like that straight out of the gate? Did it prove something to yourself? To the industry?
You know, at that time, I didn’t think about it. You don’t have time to really sit in it, because those accolades and all that… I guess it actually made it more pressurized, in a way. Of course, I was excited, and it was like, “Oh yeah, let’s go!” But it was more fuel to get back in the studio and stay in people’s faces. That’s when I started getting offers to do shows, so life really ramped up at that time. You don’t really get time to sit and celebrate. You’re just in it.
Next year marks the 25th anniversary of your sophomore album, “Scorpion,” which I’ve heard you refer to as your “industry album” because you felt like your label pressured you to make it. How do you feel about that album now after all these years?
I still love that album. When I look at the pictures of it and that time, I still love the creative of it. And I did have fun doing that album, but I definitely felt the pressure of the industry, of like, “Oh, can we make this happen again? Like, okay, first time, cool. But can she last? Is she gonna give us hits again?” There was lots of— it was like being under a microscope a little bit. And also, it starts becoming where the label is so much more invested in you at that time, so you feel all of that happening.
Random aside, but do you ever get asked about collaborating with Prince?
Yeah [laughs]. It does come up, but not often, which is why that’s my favorite collaboration of all time.
Can you tell me about that? Because “The Greatest Romance Ever Sold (Adam & Eve Remix)” happened very early in your career.
Very early. I had only put out my first album when I got the call that he wanted to do a song with me. I was like, “He doesn’t know who I am. Like, y’all are lying. There is no way that Prince knows who I am.” Fast forward to meeting him at Electric Lady Studios in New York, and I was in awe. Like, this man really knows me. He was talking to me about my music. He was like, “Yo, I really love ‘What Ya Want.’” And I was just like, “This is insane. Like, what are you talking about? How do you even know this?”
He was like, “Yeah, I have this song. I really want you to get on it.” I mean, it was the most incredible thing that had ever happened. To this day, I feel so incredibly blessed and lucky that I was able to meet him, and years after that, have conversations with him and hang out with him. Yeah, he was special, for sure.
That’s amazing. Prince doesn’t work with just anybody.
Nah, exactly. I felt like, yo. It was a very beautiful [collaboration]. Like, wow, this man… Yeah, it was crazy.
“I was able to go into the writers’ room, sit in on producer meetings and learn things that I would never learn if I were just number one on the call sheet,” Eve recalls of having an executive producer credit on her self-titled sitcom (pictured above).
Your foray into acting came at the height of your rap career. How difficult was that transition, juggling those two very different worlds at the same time?
It was definitely hard. There were so many things I had to learn of like, sitting still, being in the same place at the same time, and I think it kind of freaked me out. While I loved it, especially when I was on my TV show, I also felt the monotony of getting up, getting in the car, going to the same place at the same time [every day]. I was still going to the club. I would show up to rehearsals, damn near hungover, or would be just getting in at 5, and have to be on set at 8. It wasn’t great, but I will say, doing [“Eve”], it was, again, like a boot camp in acting, in a way. The cast was amazing and the crew, we all became family because we spent so much time together. I’m grateful that I had that experience from doing the TV show, and then it just sparked [a feeling of] like, oh, I want to keep doing this and start to get into movies.
Few female rappers have had their own TV shows — it’s pretty rare, even today. And you had an executive producer credit on yours, which was also rare at that time. How did it feel to get that title on the show, and what advantages did it give you in addition to being the star actress?
That was a management decision, which I’m very thankful for, because it allowed me to have that extra insight. I was able to go into the writers’ room, sit in on producer meetings and learn things that I would never learn if I were just number one on the call sheet and just had to show up and say my lines. I will forever be grateful for that, because I got to see things and hear things early on from behind the camera. It felt great being that young and having that producer credit. It was a big deal.
You were also doing movies back then. How was it being in the film space at that time?
I loved it. It was a nice escape, I guess, or a break from being in the music industry. The music [business] is hectic and fast-paced, and you deal with a lot of BS sometimes. Not to say there’s not that in the movie industry, but usually it’s very black and white. You get your call sheet, you show up to set, you wait, you do your thing, you’re out and you get your check. So, I think I liked that, and I liked figuring out that I could find another creative outlet in a different way.
“Queens” was the last project you acted in. What was your biggest takeaway from that experience?
It was a great show, and it was a very ambitious show, which made it hard to shoot in a way. We were still getting through COVID, and so there were a lot of factors that made it more difficult, but the show itself was great. It was innovative and shot amazingly well, and I’m proud of it. Definitely proud to be a part of it.
“I really feel lucky and grateful that people want to hear me, want to see me and still love my music,” Eve says of coheadlining this year’s Where The Party At Tour.
Scott Dudelson via Getty Images
You just wrapped your tour with Nelly and Ja Rule this summer. How was it being back out on the road at this point in your career — when you don’t necessarily have to tour — and seeing your fans still rapping along to your songs?
It was great. It was a fun summer, honestly. It was great seeing the crowds, the generations that came. It was surprising. Sometimes we would go to venues, and it would be young kids, and I’m like, whoa, what are y’all doing here? But I love that. And sometimes we would go to venues, and it would be like, oh, I can tell we all grew up together. Some people had their daughters, their sons, all kinds of things. It was, honestly, so fun. And for me, like you said, I don’t have to tour, but at the end of the day, why not do the thing that you love the most? Being on stage is my favorite thing. My son, to be able to bring [him] on stage and let him see me, see his mom in a space that she loves to be in, that I thrive in, that was a big thing for me. Because ultimately, he’s gonna be starting school, and I won’t be thinking about wanting to tour, because I want to be with my kid at home. So this was the perfect time.
And my mom and my brother were on the road with me, too, and that’s something I didn’t do when I was younger because I was crazy when I was younger, and I would never have my mother [with me] [laughs] because she would just be like, “This girl is nuts.” But, overall, with all those elements, it made it really nice to tour.
Being a mom and still being an artist, what is that dynamic like now? Especially with your son seeing you out on stage?
It’s the best feeling. It is literally the best feeling. And now, I think he really gets it. Before, he kind of was just like, “What is happening?” But now that he’s seen it so much this tour, he really understands it, and it’s nice. It’s nice that he sees me like that, as well as a mom. It’s really special.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
