Eve Claims Jay-Z Warned Her Female Rappers 'Don't Do Well' When She Released Her Debut Album
It appears Eve has beaten the odds of achieving success as a female rapper — contrary to what Jay-Z may have estimated.
While promoting her new memoir, "Who's That Girl?", the legendary rap queen spilled details on the book's contents with the 'The Times,' where she reflected on the misogyny in the music industry.
In the memoir, the former "Ruff Ryders" group member recalled when her 1999 album, "Let There Be Eve...The Ruff Ryders First Lady," went on to sell 213K copies the first week, per 'HotNewHipHop,' and over 2 million units to date.
The Philadelphia born star alleged Jay-Z called to congratulate her at the time, but also told her to diminish her expectations because female rappers "don't really do that well," per the outlet.
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The rap star turned actress — real name Eve Jihan Jeffers-Cooper — went on to far surpass those expectations, ultimately becoming a multi-platinum-selling and Grammy Award-winning artist.
Eve reveals that Jay Z called her the day she dropped her debut album to congratulate her, and also to warn her not to get her hopes up because female rappers “don’t really do that well”
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If that wasn't enough, "I've written a f***ing book. It's crazy," she recently boasted to 'The Times' regarding her book. "I was nervous initially about putting all this stuff out there, but I wanted to be open and vulnerable."
That said, the 45-year-old did just that. The 'Barbershop' franchise star also expressed details regarding the "uphill fight" she faced while in male-dominated board rooms with higher ups and music execs.
"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," Eve said.
"It was very frustrating," the musician admitted.
"I faced an obstacle because I wanted Gwen on that record, and I had a few people say, 'That's never gonna work. People are not going to believe this.' And I was just like, 'Believe what? We are two artists,' " she said of No Doubt's Gwen Stefani, who joined her on the 2001 single "Let Me Blow Ya Mind."
The newfound book writer also expressed her gratitude for an old A&R who called her up to apologize for not listening to her more throughout her career. "It actually helped me," she said.
Eve, who has been married to Maximillion Cooper since 2014 and is the mother of one, released three more studio albums after her 1999 debut: 'Scorpion' (2001), 'Eve-Olution' (2002) and 'Lip Lock' (2013).
The former 'The Talk' co-host, who divides her time between London, Los Angeles, and New York, is looking forward to celebrating the 25th anniversary of her debut album, "Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady."
