Eve is out on the promo trail for her new television musical drama Queens, co-starring Brandy Norwood and Naturi Naughton. She is making her rounds and opening up about a number of topics including the current state of hip-hop. Eve found success first as a female rapper before going on into the world of film, sitcoms, fashion and daytime talk shows. She recently sat down with Trevor Noah to discuss how she feels about the current crop of rap stars.
Trevor Noah opened up congratulating the female rapper on her new pregnancy. The step-mother of four is becoming a mom to her own after years of fertility issues. “What is the best thing that you’ve experience, or the most unpredictable thing no one warned you about?”
“They don’t tell you about a lot!” she said sarcastically. “The best thing…well when I first started feeling flutters I thought it was gas.” She joked about being gassier but eventually learning how to interpret the babies movements. She now feels like they can communicate. “Women are amazing” she says. Noah then turned the attention to the show Queens calling it Eve’s “other baby”. “You were the first lady of Ruff Ryders and now you’re playing this less successful version of a character of yourself. What does that feel like?” “The first week and a half I was freaking out. How can I play Brianna when this is my life” she says.
Eve confessed that it took her about 2 weeks to identify the characters voice. She says that for years she wanted to keep her music and acting separate and probably would not have taken this role 2 years ago. However, she thanks the shows writers for creating content she trusted. “90s hip-hop, 2000s hip-hop, there was a pureness at that time. With this show, if we can capture that, people will love [it].”
Trevor Noah and Eve laughed as the rapper brushed off her bias to the era. “Every generations love its version of hip-hop” says Noah. “its the hip-hop that’s shaped your life.” In a follow-up question, Noah asked Eve what are the parts of modern hip-hop that she envies and what parts is she glad were not around during her come up.
“A million percent what I envy is that you don’t need a label” she responds. She goes on to shout out artists of the current era and lament on how lucky they are to not need a label or co-sign to reach their audience. “You can get out there and find your people the way you want to.” On the topic of things she does not like. “There’s a lot of clones. I feel like back in the day uniqueness was celebrated. I think now there is a lot of the ‘sameness’. It makes it boring.”
When asked how she remained herself back in her era, she expressed that it was a lot of luck. “Ruff Ryders, they never tried to change me. The only thing they tried to do was cover me up more. They didn’t want me naked.” She goes on to thank her crew for allowing her to be herself. She said she got pressure from executives but she stood her ground.
