Cover Story | Eve, born Eve Jihan Jeffries is pretty much a household name at this point. Her notoriety is so ingrained into the fabric of American life that many of her fans don’t remember how she began her career in the public eye. This isn’t hard to understand given the several transformations she has con through over the span of her career. From a child singing in local choirs in West Philadelphia to signing with the Ruff Ryders imprint in the late 90’s and eventually going on to star in tv/movies and co-host the daytime talk show “The Talk” on CBS, Eve has glided into each new direction her career has taken her with class.
In the mid-late 90’s Eve was known as the “Ruff Ryders’ First Lady”, it was part of the title of her début album Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders’ First Lady. This made her the only female rapper in the crew, and to add additional pressure this was around the same time The LOX left Bad Boy Records to join DMX on the Interscope subsidiary. Eve was not only able to hold her own against the heavyweight emcees on her team, she created her own lane and delivered several hit songs and gold/platinum albums. She also has an impressive list of collaborations under her belt and has worked with artists like Gwen Stefani and The Roots.
Outside of music Eve has had her hands in several other areas of entertainment. She started in acting in the early 2000’s with films like XXX (2002) and Barbershop (2002). Her reception from these roles led to her playing in other films and on television. This lead to her own show EVE (2003 – 2006) and eventually to her being a host on The Talk (2017 – 2020). On top of that, her new American music drama Queens is set to start on October 15th on ABC alongside Nadine Velazquez and singer/actresses Brandy Norwood and Naturi Naughton.
Eve’s career has spanned over two decades and shows no signs of stopping or slowing down. Too many times we see artists from her era fall on hard times, or unable to find themselves after the initial fame. She has been able to maneuver through seamlessly and doesn’t seem to have lost a step.
