Eve

Eve Jihan Cooper ( Jeffers; born November 10, 1978) is an American rapper, singer, and actress.

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" (Remix) from his album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot and The Roots' single "You Got Me" from the band's fourth album Things Fall Apart.

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 became the third female hip-hop artist to have her album peak at number one on the Billboard 200 (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).

Her debut studio album, Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady (1999) reached number one on the Billboard 200—making her the third female rapper to accomplish this feat—and received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The album spawned the hit singles "What Ya Want" (featuring Nokio), "Love Is Blind," and "Gotta Man."

That same year, she guest featured on The Roots' Grammy Award-winning single "You Got Me" as well as Missy Elliott's single "Hot Boyz," which peaked within the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100.

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 (Dope Girl Posse or EDGP) 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".

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 (1999).

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.

It sold 213,000 copies in the first week.

The album has sold over 2 million copies (according to SoundScan) and is certified Double Platinum.

The album features singles such as "Gotta Man" and "Love Is Blind".

"Love Is Blind" was written when she was 16 and 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 (Remix)" along with Nas, Lil Mo, and Q-Tip.

The remix broke the record for most weeks at number-one on the US R&B chart on the 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."

Eve's second studio album, Scorpion (2001) was released to similar success.

Its lead single, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" (featuring Gwen Stefani) won her and Stefani the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and an MTV Video Music Award, while peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100.

Her second studio album Scorpion, was released on March 6, 2001.

Her third album, Eve-Olution (2002) found continued success and yielded the single "Gangsta Lovin'" (featuring Alicia Keys), which likewise peaked at number two on the chart.

She also guest featured on Gwen Stefani's Grammy Award-nominated 2004 single "Rich Girl," which received double platinum certification by the RIAA.

Eve also had supporting roles in the drama film The Woodsman (2004), the comedy film The Cookout (2004) and the horror film Animal (2014).

The album also spawned the Dr. Dre-produced single "Satisfaction," which, along with her 2007 single "Tambourine" and guest performance on City High's 2001 single "Caramel," peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100.

After parting ways with Interscope Records, Eve released her fourth studio album, Lip Lock (2013) 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.

From 2017 to 2020, she co-hosted the CBS Daytime talk show The Talk, where she was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Award.

Eve Jihan Jeffers was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Julie Wilcher, 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.