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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

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DE: I want to ask you about your relationship with Dr. Dre. He was the guy who discovered you when you went out to L.A. in 1997, and then he dropped you from his label, Aftermath, eight months later. But he wound up producing a few songs on your last two albums. I read that you guys fought in the studio. What's your relationship with him like now?

E: We did fight in the (continued from page 196) studio. [laughs] But it was all good because we made a hit record! It was all creative juices flowing. I'm a spoiled brat and so is Dre. I shouldn't say spoiled brat--he's a perfectionist. He knows what he wants. He brings out the best in me, in all honesty. I hate having people tell me what to do, and he's that type of person, because he knows what he wants. He's like, "Yo, do it this way," or "Do it that way," which makes it better, but still I don't care. Don't tell me what to do!

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DE: Dre, if you are reading this: Use some reverse psychology on Eve.

E: Exactly. So we had a little argument, but by the end of the song he came up to me and we talked and it was all good. I love working with Dre, definitely. It's all love.

DE: What was going on inside your head as you were coming up from the Philly rap scene to where you are today?

E: I had been rhyming for a long time. I finally got out of high school, running around, still doing my thing, and I got a phone call from some guys I knew, saying, "Yo, we got the president of [Dre's label] Aftermath in town, do you want to audition?" I'm like, "Yeah, all right. Whatever." I had been to a million auditions. It was like, "This couldn't hurt." When I auditioned for the guy, he said, "OK, stop. Stop the tape." And I'm like, "Oh, I must be whack." He's like, "Nahl I'm calling Dre right now." Two days later, they flew me to L.A. I did a demo for Ore; I was there for eight months working on the album.

It didn't work out between me and Ore, but while was there I met DMX and I started hanging with him and the Ruff Ryder kids. And then I got the phone call like, "Yo, we're dropping you. You're going back home."

DE: Why did they decide that?

E: They never would tell me, and I never got to talk to Ore about it, and to this day we have never brought it up. It's all good because I'm where I am now. And he's where he is. I still would like to know, though. [both laugh]

DE: Dre, if you are still reading this, please send a two-way pager message to Eve and tell her why you dropped her.

E: [laughs] No, no, no, no. It's all good. But I would like to know. My mother told me, "It's probably a blessing in disguise. Something better will come."

DE: But then you lay in bed, depressed for several weeks.

E: I walked around my mom's house in pajamas for a whole month. I don't think I even wanted to go outside or anything, but my mom was just like, "Hear me when I tell you it's going to be all good." Then I got the phone call to sign with the Ruff Ryders. And I'm like, "Aw, that's crazy!"

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

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