Eve (born
Eve Jihan Jeffers on
November 10,
1978 in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American
rapper associatec with the
Ruff Ryders[?] crew. She adopted the name
Gangsta in high school as part of an all-female group called
EDGP (pronounced
Egypt) and eventually went solo as
Eve of Destruction. After a period of working as a
stripper, Eve returned to hip hop at the encouragement of pop superstar
Mase; she recorded "Eve of Destruction", which appeared on the
soundtrack to
Bulworth[?] in
1998 (see
1998 in music). Her label,
Aftermath Records[?], found itself in financial trouble and Eve was soon without a record contract. She had, however, befriended
DMX and appeared on
It's Dark and Hell Is Hot[?] and other Ruff Ryders' compilations. Her single "What Ya Want" soon became a hit, and she collaborated with
The Roots and
Blackstreet and
Janet Jackson, further expanding her fanbase. Her debut was
Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders First Lady[?] (
1999,
1999 in music) and the album was an unprecedented success, the first rap album by a woman to enter the American charts at #1. The follow-up,
Scorpion[?], was released in
2001 (see
2001 in music) to good reviewes, but the second single, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" (with
Gwen Stefani of
No Doubt) became a pop success. The song won a
Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration[?] and
Scorpion went platinum. Eve then appeared in
XXX[?] with
Vin Diesel[?] and in
Barbershop with
Ice Cube, released
Eve-Olution[?] in
2002 (see
2002 in music). "Gangsta Lovin'", with
Alicia Keys, then became another pop hit and Even closed out
2003 (see
2003 in music) by signing to
UPN for a television show about a
fashion designer.