Ruff Ryders’ first lady, Eve, recently opened up in an interview with The Guardian about her come up as one of the few women in hip-hop making headway in rap and the isolation she felt during that time.
Eve candidly shared how camaraderie between female rappers was nonexistent back then and recalled how record companies would try to pit female rappers against each other. Despite that, she was able to navigate the music scene without getting caught up in the behind-the-scenes politics or burn any bridges.
“Before I’d met anybody, I always thought of it as this sisterhood. I thought we were all gonna be friends. It was not like that,” she told the UK publication. “There definitely weren’t a lot of females out there, and the labels were basically trying to make you get naked. I was in a bubble and it never felt like a competition. I loved Missy [Elliott] and Kim but I never wanted to be them,” she continued.
She also gave a little backstory on the real reason of how she ended up with Ruff Ryders. She revealed how she was unexpectedly dropped from Dr. Dre’s Aftermath label eight months after signing the contract papers. Her release is what led her to linking up with Ruff Ryders. “But with Ruff Ryders, it was always: ‘We like who you are, we’re not going to try and change you.’”
With her first album in six years dropping soon, she said she is not sweating the small details in her larger picture. “I’m not as stressed about what people think any more – that’s a great feeling,” she said.
“Whether it’s me talking to my past self, or to future girls, it’s saying: ‘You don’t need to deal with the b*lls**t. Keep it moving!’ You have that a-ha moment where you go: ‘You know what? F**k this shit!’”
Are y’all ready for Eve’s comeback!?
