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Eve: As a rapper, she proved herself as the pit bull in a skirt among an all-male crew. Will she make tails wag as a budding actress and fashion mogul?
Interview, Sept, 2002 by Dimitri Ehrlich
E: Well, that stripper thing, first and foremost I put it out there years ago. Yes, it is a part of my past. I put it out there so that, at this point in my life, nobody could go to the media and try to get big off me having been a stripper.
DE: So nobody could pull a Gennifer Flowers on you.
E: Exactly! "The former stripper turns..." Please! I wasn't a stripper for 15 years. I stripped for like a month and a half. I did it because it was rebellious for me to do it. I'm from the projects--that's where I was born. That's where I grew up. Then my mother got married when I was 14 years old, and we moved to a middle-class area. I started stripping when I was 17, as a way for me to find my independence, to make some quick money so that I could move out of my mother's house.
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DE: So, it was more like a lark?
E: Please! It was an awakening. I was there and it helped me sort out some things. I realized, "You know what? This is not what I need to be doing with my life." Then I started pursuing my music even harder.
DE: What are some other myths about you that piss you off?
E: That I'm gay. I've heard that a million times. I have no problem with it, but that's not my thing. I am not gay and I've never been gay. I love men to death--and I'm single, men! Another myth is that I'm a bitch, which I can be at times, but usually I'm not, and not to people on the street. People that don't know me don't get my bitchy side unless they do something to me. They're the only bad things I've heard. Have you heard anything else?
DE: I feel like one myth is your creation: the whole "pit bull in a skirt" idea. Having met you a few times, you're really funny and warm. Is there really a pit bull inside you?
E: Believe me, there's a pit bull inside. She comes out when she needs to. What's so funny is that I have two Yorkies.
DE: A Yorkie in a skirt!
E: But again, me being a pit bull in a skirt is another thing that people blew out of proportion. It was a rhyme in a song. It was a line that took on a life of its own. I'm with Ruff Ryders; they're my dogs.
DE: Another thing people might say is, "Oh, she grew up poor. Maybe she's become a workaholic now and is making hit records and starting a clothing line and doing movies to compensate." But you told me once that you're incredibly lazy and if you're not working you'll be sitting at home eating Froot Loops in your pajamas, watching television all day.
E: Well, I wouldn't say I grew up poor. I grew up broke a lot of times. Poor and broke are two different things. My mother was a single mother. My grandmother, grandfather, aunt, my little cousin, my uncles and us all lived in the same house. I think me being poor is a myth. Me being lazy is a reality. I can be a procrastinator. I have those qualities. I enjoy working, but at the same time there are days when I just stop and stay home and lay in bed all day, because sometimes you just need to cut the phones off and have people out of your face. I work extra hard because I've been broke. I don't want to be broke again, ever. Ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever. I've never been a workaholic before. I don't think I've realized until now how important it is to be on top of your business.
