Eve Says Jay-Z Told Her Women Rappers 'Don't Really Do That Well' After Her Debut Album Dropped (UPDATE)
She also described getting "pushback" on her chart-topping hit, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Gwen Stefani.
UPDATED Sept. 17, 4:40 P.M. ET: Eve has cleared up her recent comments regarding Jay-Z.
“It was a very amazing phone call that I needed,” Eve said on The Breakfast Club on Tuesday at around the 12:20 minute mark. “I always felt like I was the underdog anyway. And he wasn’t saying it out of malice or [to be] mean. It wasn’t about that. It was facts, really!”
When Charlamagne tha God pointed out that Hov was just trying to “temper her expectations,” Eve said, “Yes, exactly. But I was like, ‘Okay, lemme see. I’ma show you. It’s all good, and it went on to be fine.”
Read the original story below.
Eve learned how to advocate for herself early in her career in spite of the doubt surrounding her success.
In a new interview with The Times, she shared some of the things her male counterparts, including Jay-Z said to her as she was finding success, specifically mentioning that Hov called her to congratulate her on the release of her debut album, Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady in 1999.
However, he also told her to be mindful of her expectations because women rappers “don’t really do that well.” Her album went on to sell two million copies and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Eve also revealed that a music executive once told her to stop making music and focus on getting pregnant. Her label discouraged her from making her hit record, “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” with Gwen Stefani. The song topped the charts, climbing to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and later won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2002.
Other male execs were openly rude to her. “The audacity that these men had,” she said. But that’s no longer the case for Eve: “Now I have age and experience on my side, nobody’s coming at me like that.”
She made similar comments to Page Six earlier this month, telling the outlet that the beginning of her career was an “uphill fight.” She explained, "Back then, you had to physically go out and build your audience and just going into these rooms, which were very male-dominated, completely male-dominated," she told the outlet. "Thankfully I won that battle," she added.
The 45-year-old is gearing up for the release of her debut memoir, Who’s That Girl?, which arrives Sept. 17.
