Rapper and actress Eve is recalling her past days stripping as a 17-year-old, admitting that she quit because she was “lazy,” and reflecting on how she got signed to Dr. Dre and later the Ruff Ryders.
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In an excerpt of her upcoming memoir, ‘Who’s That Girl?,’ the Philadelphia native detailed her time working in a Bronx, New York strip club as a teenager. Eve, born Eve Jeffers, left Philly to pursue a career in music in New York City. However, the Grammy Award-winning artist soon realized that fame wasn’t as easily attainable as she’d hoped. So, she was left trying to figure out another hustle, no matter the job title.
Ahead of her memoir, releasing on September 17, Eve shared an excerpt with PEOPLE, in which she recalled living in New York and working at a retail shop and a strip club at 17 years old. Eve told PEOPLE, “In my head, I was thinking, ‘I need to be grown now, and it’s the quickest way I can get out of the house.’ But I was so bad at it. I was lazy.”
The “Who’s That Girl” rapper said she quit exotic dancing after just two months. Before doing so, she had a chance meeting with New York rapper MA$E, whom she met at the club. During their conversations, he encouraged her to quit dancing and get focused on her rap career. Eve recalled, “When MA$E became a pastor, I was like, ‘Yeah, that makes sense.’ He was my prophet that day. I needed that extra push.”
Before relocating from Philly to NYC for her rap career, Eve had first started battle rapping male high school classmates in rap cyphers at just 14 years old. She had already figured that rapping wasn’t just a hobby, but something that she wanted to pursue. Upon quitting the strip club, Eve was signed to music mogul Dr. Dre’s label Aftermath. But after only eight months, she was dropped.
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She said, “I think it was a huge blessing in disguise. I needed to be humbled. I think a lot of the reason why I got dropped by Dre is that I was so, ‘When is it my turn? When are you going to put me on?’ So extra Philly feisty. I needed to be sent back home to be like, ‘OK, well, if you got this opportunity again, who do you want to be? What do you want to show the world?’”
Eve soon found her home with the Ruff Ryders, a rap crew based out of Yonkers, New York. In order to prove herself to the crew, she had to battle every man in the room during her audition. She said, “I was like, ‘OK, this is a ride or die situation. I’m rapping for my life right now.’ I had to kill them all, lyrically.”
Eve said the Ruff Ryders were impressed and she soon dropped her debut album ‘Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders’ First Lady.’ The album was released on September 14, 1999 by Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Interscope Records and featured hits like “Gotta Man” and “Love Is Blind.”
Eve recalled getting a call from JAY-Z on the day of the album release. She said he congratulated her but also warned her not to get upset about numbers because female Hip-Hop albums don’t sell well. She said, “I wasn’t mad at him. If anything, it was just fuel.”
Eve’s debut album ended up going No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making her the third female rapper in history to hit the mark. Despite the feat, she noted that things were bittersweet. She said, “I thought it was a sisterhood, and as soon as you get signed, everybody’s like, ‘Hey, Barbie!’ It was not like that. I remember feeling like, ‘Damn, this is freaking lonely, man.’”
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