Long before she living in luxury in London as a superstar wife and step-mother, <a href="/profile/Eve" class="text-word" target="_blank" >Eve</a> was a west Philly girl with hip hop dreams. The First Lady of the Ruff Ryders knows what it was like in the late 1990s and early 2000s <a href="https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/eve-details-finessing-her-way-onto-dr-dres-aftermath-and-cyphering-for-a-ruff-ryders-deal-news.85205.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">as a rising woman in rap</a> attempting to etch out her space alongside men who doubted her talents. Because she knew how difficult it was for young female artists to make headway in a lane that was paved particularly for male emcees, Eve naively thought that the ladies of hip hop would band together and form a camaraderie. According to the &#8220;Tambourine&#8221; rapper, she was wrong.
&#8220;There definitely <a href="https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/eve-issues-an-apology-for-harsh-statements-on-chris-browns-rape-allegations-news.70352.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">weren’t a lot of females out there,</a> and the labels were basically trying to make you get naked,” she told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/jul/19/eve-i-thought-of-rap-as-a-sisterhood-it-was-not-like-that" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">The Guardian</a>. Yet, she was impressed with Ruff Ryders who weren&#8217;t interested in making her a sex symbol. She said they told her, &#8220;We like who you are, we’re not going to try and change you.’”
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&#8220;Before I’d met anybody, I always thought of [female rappers in the industry] as this sisterhood,&#8221; Eve added. &#8220;I thought we were all gonna be friends. It was not like that. I’d see [Lil] Kim and say hi, and she’d be like: &#8216;<a href="https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/eve-gets-candid-about-her-drug-and-alcohol-addiction-i-call-it-my-dark-hole-period-news.50325.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">Get the fuck away from me</a>.&#8217; Not verbally – you could just tell what she was thinking. But I was in a bubble and it never felt like a competition. I loved Missy [Elliott] and Kim but I never wanted to be them.”
After six years of silence, Eve recently returned to the rap game with a hot new single, &#8220;Reload,&#8221; featuring dancehall artist Konshens. <a href="https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/eve-releases-first-new-song-in-6-years-with-reload-new-song.1983729.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">You can check that out here and let us know what you think</a>.