Eve (rapper)
Eve Jihan Cooper, known mononymously as Eve, is an American rapper, singer, and actress. Her debut studio album, Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady, peaked atop the Billboard 200, received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America, and spawned the singles "What Ya Want", "Love Is Blind", and "Gotta Man". That same year, she guest appeared on the Roots' single "You Got Me", as well as Missy Elliott's single "Hot Boyz", both of which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Eve's second and third studio albums, Scorpion and Eve-Olution, were both met with continued commercial success. Their respective lead singles, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" and "Gangsta Lovin'", both peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100; the former won her the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Her 2007 standalone single, "Tambourine", also entered the Billboard Hot 100's top 40. After parting ways with Interscope Records, Eve released her fourth studio album, Lip Lock, as her first independent project.
As an actress, she starred as Terri Jones in the comedy drama films Barbershop, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Barbershop: The Next Cut, and played the lead role of Shelley Williams on the UPN television sitcom Eve. Eve also had supporting roles in the drama film The Woodsman, the comedy film The Cookout and the horror film Animal. From 2017 to 2020, she co-hosted the CBS Daytime talk show The Talk, where she was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards.
Early life
Eve Jihan Jeffers was born on November 10, 1978, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Julie Wilch, a publishing company supervisor and Jerry Jeffers, a chemical plant supervisor. Eve lived in West Philadelphia until age 13 when her family moved to the neighborhood of Germantown. She graduated from Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia.At the age of 18, she worked as a stripper until rapper Mase convinced her to quit. In 1999, Eve discussed stripping in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying "that was a hustle, too; there's a song about it on my album, 'Heaven Only Knows.' But I don't regret it – I was eighteen and confused, going through personal problems. I did it for about a month, and I was glad I did it. It helped me find Eve, helped me get serious. It was depressing – a lot of those girls have three or four kids. I'd sit there and be like, 'Eve, you don't belong here, this is not your world.
Eve's first musical interest was singing. She sang in many choirs and even formed an all-female singing group with a manager. This group covered songs from En Vogue and Color Me Badd. The group's manager suggested that they should start rapping, and Eve stuck with it. After the group split up, Eve began working on a solo career under the name "Eve of Destruction".
Career
1998–2001: Beginnings, debut album and breakthrough
In 1998, Eve appeared on the Bulworth soundtrack as Eve of Destruction while signed to Dr. Dre's record label Aftermath Entertainment. She appeared on DMX's song "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" from his album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot. She also appeared on The Roots' single "You Got Me" from the band's fourth album Things Fall Apart., which went on to win a Grammy in 2000, but without her as the collaborated artist. 26 years later in 2026, after a technicality from The Recording Academy, The Black Music Collective finally awarded her the Grammy from that win, for her contribution respectively. Eve also provided background vocals on The Roots' song "Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New" from Things Fall Apart and is credited as Eve of Destruction. Eve's first single, "What Y'all Want", featuring Nokio the N-Tity of Dru Hill, was released in June 1999. The song peaked at number 29 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and at number one on the Hot Rap Songs chart. "What Ya'll Want" was included on the compilation album Ryde or Die Vol. 1.Her debut album called Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady was released on September 14, 1999, by Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Interscope Records, and sold 213,000 copies in the first week. Eve became the third female hip-hop artist to have her album peak at number one on the Billboard 200, with Lauryn Hill's debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, being the first to top the chart in 1998 and Foxy Brown's second album, Chyna Doll achieving the feat earlier in 1999. The album has sold over two million copies and is certified Double Platinum. It features singles such as "Gotta Man" and "Love Is Blind", which was written when she was 16 and is based on her 17-year-old best friend's relationship with a 35-year-old abusive man by whom she became pregnant. All of the songs on the album were written by Eve herself.
In November 1999, Eve was featured on Missy Elliott's single "Hot Boyz " alongside Nas, Lil Mo, and Q-Tip. The remix broke the record for most weeks at number-one on the US R&B chart issue dated January 15, 2000, as well as spending 18 weeks at number one on the Hot Rap Singles from December 4, 1999, to March 25, 2000.
Eve does not like being referred to as a "Pop Princess". Her second studio album Scorpion, was released on March 6, 2001. She appeared on the cover of Jet magazine, which referred to her as the "Queen of Rap". The album's first single, "Who's That Girl" peaked at number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six in the United Kingdom. It was also number 97 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. The second single, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Gwen Stefani of No Doubt, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the US Mainstream Top 40 chart. It won a Grammy Award in 2002 for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, which was a brand new category at the time. The song was listed at number seven on the 2001 Pazz & Jop list, a survey of several hundred music critics conducted by Robert Christgau. A remix of "Love Is Blind" featuring singer Faith Evans also appeared on the album. In June 2001, Eve won the BET Award for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist. In November 2001, she appeared as a contestant on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won $32,000 for her charity.
2002–2012: ''Eve-Olution,'' collaborations and acting roles
Eve's third album, Eve-Olution, was released by Ruff Ryders Entertainment on August 27, 2002, and peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. The album's first single, "Gangsta Lovin'", with Alicia Keys, became her second consecutive number-two hit on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as her third consecutive top ten hit in the United Kingdom. The second single, "Satisfaction" was moderately successful in the United States, reaching number 27 and 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Eve-Olution has sold over 500,000 copies in the U.S. and was certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America.In 2002, Eve appeared on the remixed version of Michael Jackson's "Butterflies". She appeared in the action film XXX and all three Barbershop films. In 2003, Eve starred as fashion designer Shelly Williams in the television sitcom, Eve. The show aired for three seasons on UPN, from September 15, 2003, to May 11, 2006, and followed two sets of male and female friends attempting to navigate relationships with the opposite sex. Eve guest starred as Yvette Powell in an episode of NBC's crime drama television series Third Watch. In 2004, she appeared in two films, The Woodsman and The Cookout.
In 2005, she appeared on Gwen Stefani's song "Rich Girl", which peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in March. In the United States, "Rich Girl" was certified gold, and it received a nomination for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 47th Grammy Awards. The same year, she appeared on the official remix of Amerie's number one U.S. R&B single, "1 Thing". She also appeared on Keyshia Cole's single "Never" and Teairra Mari's official remix for "No Daddy". In 2007, Eve appeared on Kelly Rowland's single "Like This" which reached the top-ten in Ireland and the United Kingdom, the top-twenty in Australia and New Zealand, as well as number 30 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. In July 2007, Eve made a guest appearance on Maroon 5's second single "Wake Up Call" on Live 45th at Night. In late 2008, she performed "Set It On Fire", which became available on the Transporter 3 soundtrack. In April 2009, Eve and Lil Jon appeared on the song "Patron Tequila", the debut single of girl group Paradiso Girls.
She played Ophelia Franklin in the British drama film Flashbacks of a Fool. In 2009, she landed a role as Rosa Sparks in the comedy-drama film Whip It, opposite Elliot Page and Drew Barrymore. It received generally positive reviews from critics but did not perform well financially, having made $16.6 million worldwide against its $15 million budget. Also in 2009, she portrayed La-La Buendia in an episode of CBS' crime drama series Numbers and appeared in two episodes of Fox's musical comedy-drama series Glee, appearing as Grace Hitchens. She portrayed Latisha in the crime thriller film 4.3.2.1. alongside Emma Roberts and Tamsin Egerton. Eve hosted the 2010 MTV Africa Music Awards.
In March 2010, Eve was featured on the official remix of Ludacris' song "My Chick Bad". In November 2010, Eve performed a rap on Australian singer Guy Sebastian's single "Who's That Girl", which reached number one on the ARIA Singles Chart and has been certified 4× Platinum. In December 2010, Eve was featured on Alicia Keys' song "Speechless", which charted at number 71 on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart in early 2011. In March 2011, Eve was featured on Swizz Beatz' song "Everyday ", the first promotional single from his upcoming album Haute Living. In April 2011, she appeared on Jill Scott's song "Shame" from her album The Light of the Sun. She also appeared on Russian rapper Timati's single "Money In Da Bank" and Wolfgang Gartner's song "Get Em". In April 2012, Eve appeared on reggae artist Shaggy's single "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".