On Sept. 21, hip-hop trailblazer Eve came to the Kimmel Center for University Life to speak on music, motherhood and her newly-released memoir “Who’s That Girl?” in conversation with acclaimed music journalist and co-writer Kathy Iandoli. Eve was named the Steinhardt 2024-25 Scholar-in-Residence on Sept. 11, selected by Steinhardt dean Jack H. Knott for her artistic expertise.
During the event, Eve recalled her early days as an emcee, battle rapping in high school in her native Philadelphia. Her debut album “Let There Be Eve… Ruff Ryders’ First Lady,” released in September 1999, was the third album from a female rapper to top the Billboard 200. Although the album was a meteoric success and an unabashed love letter to her Philadelphia roots, Eve recounted the pressure to maintain musical momentum and keep her material fresh, turning to more aspirational lyricism.
“Being in the business, they’re like, ‘Okay, we need, we need another album right now.’ So I quickly had to change gears,” she said. “I started talking about what I wanted my life to be, what I wanted to be surrounded by, what people I wanted to be around. So in a way, I guess you can call it ‘manifesting.’”
Her storied career includes collecting the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration alongside Gwen Stefani, as well as being the first rapper to be an executive producer on a TV show for her 2003 self-titled sitcom. Despite this, Ruff Ryders Entertainment dropped her in 2002. She started her own record label in 2013, From The Rib, and released her first album in a decade. When Iandoli inquired about managing an independent distribution label, Eve was unflinchingly honest, confessing she vastly underestimated the manpower needed to craft an album from scratch.
“I felt deflated,” she said. “But I also felt like I needed to prove to myself that I could make an album work. I could still write a record without having this machine. I would never do that again.”
Eve stressed the importance of versatility and being able to pivot. She has ventured into television and had an Emmy-nominated run as a co-host on CBS’s “The Talk.” She’s also a philanthropist as a global ambassador for Malaika, a nonprofit in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that helps provide quality education to girls.
“The self-esteem that school is giving these girls, and not just the girls. Their mothers, their fathers, the community,” Eve said. “It’s not just about us in this body. It’s about all of us. It’s about reaching back however you can.”
To Eve, her new role at Steinhardt is a full-circle moment. She revealed that she had initially planned to attend NYU had her music career not materialized.
“I thought my career was over at 17,” Eve said. “I was like, ‘I’m not signed yet.’ I wanted to figure out, like SFX makeup and stuff. Then I was signed the next week. So that’s the world, that’s the universe.”
While she’s been living in London and raising her son, she now hopes to find a new drive in New York City outside the entertainment and family space — she and Iandoli are already discussing releasing future books.
Her new residency will consist of meetings and classroom visits for students and staff alike, in which she will further discuss her career and the state of the music world. Past artists-in-residence hold discussion groups and pitch meetings for students to bounce ideas off of. Details around these events will be announced in detail further into the academic year.
“As much life as I’ve lived, I’m still sometimes this little girl from Philly that’s like ‘My life is so dope!’” Eve said. “Like who knew this was a choice? You know what I’m saying? So, yeah, I’m happy to be here.”
Contact Ekene Onukogu at [email protected].