Eve has clarified her recent revelation that JAY-Z warned her about female rappers’ chances of success following the release of her debut album in 1999.
The Philadelphia native stopped by The Breakfast Club on Tuesday (September 17) and was asked by Charlamagne Tha God about the time Hov “put a battery in your back,” which she talks about in her upcoming memoir Who’s That Girl?
“It’s funny because that was one of those things that we were like, ‘Do we put this in there?’ because you know how people get,” Eve said. “But there was nothing bad about that.
“It was a very amazing phone call that I needed. I always felt like I was the underdog anyway. And he wasn’t saying it out of malice or [to be] mean. It wasn’t about that. It was facts, really!”
When Charlamagne interjected to suggest that JAY-Z was merely trying to “temper [Eve’s] expectations,” she replied: “Yes, exactly. But I was like, ‘Okay, lemme see. I’ma show you. It’s all good, and it went on to be fine.”
Check out her comments at the 12-minute mark below.
The comments in question were first revealed in an interview with the London newspaper The Times earlier this week.
Eve recalled that on the very day her debut album Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders’ First Lady dropped, she received a congratulatory phone call from JAY-Z.
However, the message came with a warning: she remembers Hov saying that she shouldn’t get her hopes up because female rappers “don’t really do that well.”
The project sold 213,000 copies in its first week and eventually went double platinum.
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In other news, Eve is headed back to school, with the rapper/actress set to share her career experiences as the 2024-25 Scholar-in-Residence at NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.
The year-long residency will begin on September 21 and will find the “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” hitmaker having “a series of meetings, classroom visits, and intimate conversations with students and faculty” about her career and the evolving music industry.
In a statement, Steinhardt dean Jack H. Knott said: “We are thrilled to be hosting Eve as our 2024-25 Scholar in Residence. She will share the expertise she’s gained as an award-winning artist in music, film, and television, as well as a philanthropist working with young people in the arts.
“I know our students and faculty will learn from her engagement and support of our efforts to advance equity, belonging, and innovation.”
