Rapper Eve candidly reflects on the early years of her career: ‘I was New York’s laziest stripper’
Rapper Eve has revealed that before she became a platinum-selling hip-hop artist, actress and acclaimed talk show host, she worked as a teenage stripper.
But she adds that she was so lazy that she always tried to get the other girls to replace her so she could concentrate on her rapping.
“I stand topless in front of a middle-aged man, smiling and spreading his legs, as if he is ready for me to jump on top of him and grind him to pieces,” the now 45-year-old writes in her new memoir, Who is that girl?
“I’m already over it, but I sit up and swing my legs around him… reluctantly.”
She then describes him murmuring in her ear what he wants to do to her, to which she whispers her own proposal back – one he probably wasn’t expecting.
Eve made her name with hits like Let Me Blow Ya Mind with Gwen Stefani (above) and Gangsta Lovin’ with Alicia Keys
She only lasted two months as a stripper. ‘Everything I went through made me feel guilty’
“Let me rap for you,” she says. And if he doesn’t like it, she’ll give him a free lap dance.
The trick worked and as a 17-year-old girl escaping from a crowded house and a stepfather she couldn’t get along with, she soon found herself making more money than she’d ever seen.
“I walk out of this potential hellhole triumphantly knowing I just rapped for this man with my ties out. And he still tips me, even though I didn’t even give him a lap dance,” she writes
Eve – also known as Eve Jihan Jeffers – made a name for herself with hits such as Let Me Blow Ya Mind with Gwen Stefani and Gangsta Lovin’ with Alicia Keys.
But she only lasted two months as a stripper.
“Everything I went through made me feel guilty,” she writes. “And depressed. I knew I didn’t need to be there… some girls were there to feed their families. They had children to care for and a roof over their heads to pay for.
‘I had a mother and stepfather who didn’t pressure me to do anything, except maybe to continue my education after high school.
“But when I was trying to move and finance a rap career, I needed money fast — apparently half-naked in stilettos.”
“I honestly didn’t mind walking around naked and dancing alone,” she says, “but anything else just felt so awkward. I was the laziest stripper.”
In 2020, Eve (far right) was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her role as co-host of CBS’s The Talk, alongside Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood, and Carrie Ann Inaba.
Her debut album Let There Be Eve…, released in 1999, went double platinum and reached number one on the Billboard 200
No one in her Philadelphia family had any idea what was going on, mainly because she and a few other dancers drove 95 miles to New York several times a week to perform at the Golden Lady in the Bronx.
“My mother had no idea this was going on… I somehow managed to keep this new double life of partial nudity a secret,” she writes.
“Honestly, I didn’t mind walking around naked and dancing alone,” she adds, “but everything about it just felt so awkward.
“I was the laziest stripper. I just didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t want to touch anybody, and I sure as hell didn’t want them to touch me.”
She even hid from the club owner to avoid having to take her turn on the pole.
“Each dancer had a certain amount of time that they had to step on the pole and dance,” she writes. “I didn’t want to do that, so I traded times with other dancers.”
Eventually the novelty wore off – and so did the time.
“Even the customers knew I didn’t belong there. Nobody wants to see the pathetic stripper dancing.”
Luckily, she was soon noticed by rapper Ma$e, who had just signed to Puff Daddy’s label. She rapped for him that night and never went back to the strip club.
“We spent the night playing beats and driving around town rapping in his car. It was the lyrical exercise I needed in my life, and it was the most fun I’d had in New York City since I started dancing there.
“I just knew I couldn’t go back to my old life.”
“My mother had no idea this was going to happen… I somehow managed to keep the new double life of partial nudity a secret,” the singer writes.
Her memoir, Who’s That Girl, named after one of her biggest hits, is out this month
The next time she saw him, she was signed to the Ruff Ryders and had begun recording her debut album, Let There Be Eve… Released in 1999, it went double platinum and reached number one on the Billboard 200.
Eve became only the third female rapper to receive this honor, following Lauren Hill and Foxy Brown.
Three more albums followed before she transitioned into acting, appearing on TV shows such as Jane The Virgin and Empire. In 2020, she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her co-hosting of CBS’s The Talk, alongside Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood and Carrie Ann Inaba.
But she didn’t want her stripper past to remain a little secret that “would play tricks on me later.”
She spoke candidly about it in her first magazine cover story, before preparing her mother to finally learn the truth.
“I called her and said, ‘Mom, I want you to read this article and then call me so we can talk about it.’
“After she read it, she called me back. I was surprised that she wasn’t mad at me; she understood why I did it. She knew I was trying to make money and was already suspicious when I went back and forth between Philly and New York City.”
Who’s That Girl?: A Memoir by Eve is published by Hanover Square Press