"Went from dancing on tabletops to making labels pop," rhymes 20-year old Eve on "Heaven Only Knows," the closing track on her debut solo album, "Let There Be Eve... Ruff Ryders' First Lady." Granite-hard and pulling no punches, the Philly native addresses the decidedly un-glamorous rites of passage she endured while working as an exotic dancer in the Bronx before she broke.
Hearing her tell the tale, it's a wonder Eve made it out of that ugly scene with her strength not only intact, but bolstered. Paradoxically, it's a given too, 'cause on tracks like the female thug fantasy "We On That Sh**," to hear her is to fear her. The first (and only) female to join the Ruff Ryders family alongside the likes of DMX, the Lox, Drag-On, and super-producer Swizz Beatz, Eve was signed after being thrown in the ring rhyming with Drag-On and Infa Red. She earned both a contract and respect.
Eve's platinum-topped profile rose with appearances on the Roots' "You Got Me," Blackstreet's "Girlfriend/Boyfriend," and a soda commercial barrage featuring the rapper in a scenario straight out of the kung-fu classic "Five Deadly Venoms." With the release of the Ruff Ryders comp "Ryde Or Die Vol. 1" came her contributions to Jay-Z's hit "Jigga" as well as her own infectious "What Ya Want." Now, with her just-released solo debut and her salty single "Gotta Man" lighting up, Eve's on track to own the year 1999.
MTV News' Elon Johnson sat down with Eve (formerly known as Eve of Destruction... Eve Jihan Jeffers to her folks) and confabbed about her influences, her ambitions, and her love for her Ruff Ryders family. Click on for thirteen questions with the new First Lady.
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