May 16, 2007 @ 11:37 am

The Lady Eve

Clay Cane

It was a warm Thursday afternoon in the bustling Midtown area of New York City. Women everywhere were already feeling the toasty weather in extremely tight tank tops, viciously short shorts and pounds of make-up. I couldn't help but remember one of Eve's first hit singles, "What Y'all Want," when she spit the lyric, "Be a lady!" That was eons ago - well, actually just 1999 - but the hip-hop game is a much different entity. And so is the last female hip-hop artist to make a statement - which is, without argument, Eve. The former "pitbull in a skirt" has moved beyond the realm of hip-hop, racking up Grammys, a television series on the former UPN Network, blockbuster movies and more. Whenever a hip-hop artist obtains this much success, the first hot lash they receive is, "You're Hollywood!" I wondered if I would interview Hollywood Eve, or the Philly chick we all fell in love with eight years ago. A beaming Eve strolled into Geffen Records, smiling as she asked her assistant to order her sweet-and-sour chicken for lunch. Both Philadelphia natives, we swapped high school stories and reflected on the good ole' days of Philly in the '90s. Yeah, the Philly girl is still there, I thought. She is a woman now, but she has not forgotten her roots. Back August 7th with a new album, Here I Am, Eve Jihan Jeffers answers it all for VIBE.com. Would you still call yourself hip-hop?
Yeah, I mean, I come from hip-hop. If it wasn't for hip-hop I wouldn't be who I am. I never called myself anything to be honest. I never gave myself a title, "I am hip-hop, I come from hip-hop." I do music. It has been five years since your last album - what made you decide to come back to music?
The break for me was more of the TV show - not being able to actually do an album and work those hours. So once the TV show didn't come back it was just the perfect timing for me to be like, you know what, I can give this 100% my attention to make an album and that was it. I was feenin' to get back in to write and do music, it was perfect timing. Were you disappointed the television show didn't get picked up after the CW merger?
I felt in some ways, yes, but in some ways, like I said, for me it was like, well, here's the window to do my album. I'm a true believer in everything happens how it's supposed to. I believe in universal law so I figured it was sad that it didn't come back, but at the same time it was like, it must be meant for me to do my music again. There was an interview in XXL saying you want to go more pop - is that your vision?
No, I think that was [the writer's] perspective of our interview. Like I said, I don't put any names on myself. If my music being accepted worldwide is pop - call me pop. I don't know, I don't like titles - I don't aspire to be anything better than what I am and that's an entertainer and Eve. That's all I aspire to be. I don't really care about crossover. If it happens, good - and, why not be accepted by a bigger audience? So, whatever that is I'm fine with it, whatever the name of that is. You were the last female MC to make an impact. Why do you think female rappers have such hard time getting success and respect?
I don't know with the female rappers, may be females in general in any business - I think that you have to define yourself or other people will define you. I think that a lot of females came from these camps with men who maybe told them to be sexier, do this, do that, but I don't think that's their real personalities. From what I can see, a lot of females that came out, I don't think their real personalities really shined through. I don't know if what we see on TV is actually what these females actually are in their everyday life. That's just my personal theory about it. I have no clue what it is, but look at Missy for instance. Missy is exactly who she is and she can come out with a record whenever she feels like it and people will accept it because that's Missy, you know it. A lot of other people, I guess, put on different personas that maybe aren't themselves…and maybe that's a bunch of bullshit what I just said [Laughs], but I don't know that's just my personal feeling about it. I hope that females come. We need the females back. It's nice to have this lane, I can't lie about that. But at the same time, and we all help each other out. I feel like females will come back, hopefully. When you first came out you were looked at as that ride or die chick from Philly. What's your response to people who say Eve's gone Hollywood?
I don't know what Hollywood means. If Hollywood means getting a TV show, making a living, living in Hollywood, filming in Hollywood - then fine. Sometimes there is a negative connotation to what that means. There are people who live in New York who are Hollywood in the negative sense of the word, as far as fronting on people and things like that. Yes, did I go Hollywood? Of course - do I want to make movies? Absolutely! I want those checks. Yes, I want to produce movies and produce TV shows so in that aspect, yes, I have gone Hollywood. You were recently on Dr. Dre's Aftermath and now you're on Geffen.
Well, I'm still with Dre. You're still with Dre?
It's a whole thing; I wish I could really explain it. I can't even explain it! Everybody's label will be on this album - if you want to be on the label, you want a sticker on it? You can do it! [Laughs] It's like a shared album. The reason I'm with Geffen is because as far as their marketing and promotions goes they are amazing. Thankfully, they saw and believed in this album and were like, you know what, I want to give you the machine. So that's why we went over to Geffen. They have that machine, they know how it works. It's still Aftermath, Interscope, Geffen, Full Surface will have their stamp on it and Ruff Ryders will still have their stamp on it. So there's no bad blood with Aftermath?
No - never. Are you in contact with anybody from the Ruff Ryders crew - are you and DMX still cool?
It's all love, we don't speak to each other every day or every month. Darrin Dean I talk to all the time, you know, he's still in my life. I just saw him last week, we talk very often. Swizz of course that's my brother, but its all love when we see each other it's like - what's up, how you been! I'm sure you've heard of the whole Don Imus thing. It can't be avoided and hip-hop is really being critiqued right now. I've been surprised how female MCs have been left out of the discussion. Do you think the sectors of black women who are offended by the way women are portrayed in hip-hop are right to point the fingers at the artists?
No. I think they need to point fingers at the females that are doing it. Nobody is sticking a gun to those girls and saying, put on a bikini and dance in a video - at all! Those rappers aren't making them do that. Before hip-hop, rock stars have had video chicks in their videos for years - this has been going on for a long time. I think it's just convenient. Hip-hop has crossed over to the suburban world and a lot of the words that are being used in our language that maybe the suburban parents thought were going to stay here, "Oh, this is a fad for my child." Now that's their way of life - I think now it's become this threat. Many black folks say that when "we" use the word "nigga'" it isn't offensive. Do you think that if a female MC uses the word bitch or ho that it's no longer offensive?
These words, man, I swear, it's definitely given me something to think about in the last couple months. It's something I've never really thought about. I remember years ago, probably my second album, I was in London and doing an interview with a guy from Sweden and he was like, "Why do black people call each other nigger?" I was like - damn! That's a good question! I was like, "Well, it's a camaraderie" - I started going through all these things and never thought about it again until it has come up. And it's a word that I grew up with, it's a word I use, it's a word that slips out of my mouth. It's not a word that I use in a derogatory manner. Does it make it that much better? Of course it doesn't. Bitch, ho - none of that. I barely use bitch. I never use ho. Unless I'm talking about somebody on TV, you know, in a movie that has called themselves a ho. Those aren't words that I actually use. The thing is it's a lifestyle change because I feel like, I don't have a problem with it. If it's one of those things where we're all making a movement to change the perception of the world then I'm going to stand for it. But, it has to be a movement, it can't be a wishy-washy situation just to get rid of it for right now to just make some people happy and then bring it back - it has to be a movement. So, I don't know that's going to be a hard one, I'm still thinking about it. Okay now for some fun questions. What's your favorite curse word?
Fuck. [Laughs] Michael Jackson or Prince?
Prince. Rosie O'Donnell or Star Jones?
That's hard. Rosie. Foxy Brown or Lil' Kim?
Kim.

Article tags: Lady, Eve 

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