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Interviews

Juicing With Eve

We talked to a rejuvenated Eve about juice cleanses, her new album, and being the mother to so many styles.

Eve just came out with a new album. That's a thing that happened. At 34, the former "pitbull in a skirt" and Ruff Ryders' First Lady dropped Lip Lock, her first record in over a decade, this past Tuesday via her own imprint FTR (From the Rib—get it?). Featuring the talents of producers like Pharrell and Swizz Beatz and guests including Missy Elliott and Snoop Lion, Lip Lock is a fierce and self-assured return to form.

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It's been a long time coming: after 2002's Eve-Olution, the rapper born Eve Jihan Jeffers recorded two additional albums, Here I Am and Scorpion. Though a couple of tracks were released, including "Tambourine" and "Give It To You," the full-length albums never came out due to label difficulties with Interscope and later EMI.

Not that she's been lacking for work. She's had her own clothing line, partnership with MAC, appeared in movies like Barbershop and XXX, and had her own self-titled sitcom. Most recently, the proud Philadelphian moved to London to be with her boyfriend of three years, Maximillion Cooper, who runs the annual super-swank car rally Gumball 3000.

On the eve (sorry; it's just too easy) of her album release date and a few days before the album release party, Eve took time out of her insane schedule to meet me at her favorite New York juice bar, Juice Press. We talked about Lip Lock, Shaggy, sucking dicks, and how hard she's been grinding.

Noisey: What time did you wake up this morning?
Eve: Seven. Seven sucks. Seven fucking sucks. Thank God for the makeup artist. Shit. She did wake my face up. Because this morning when I looked in the mirror after I washed my face, I was like, "Whoa, girl." She hooked me up.

How did you get into juices?
I have always done some kind of cleanse every month. Like, I'll do a three-day juice cleanse just to help re-boot and re-whatever.

Did you ever do the cayenne pepper, lemon juice, and maple syrup cleanse?
I only lasted nine hours. I hated it. You know what it is, too? It's the same taste over and over again. That shit is horrible. At least with juices you have a variety. I got back into juices because I started working with a trainer who incorporates juices two or three times a day. I cut out sugar, too. Today, I can't say that has happened. I had doughnut holes already.

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Is it frustrating at this point to have made enough material for three albums and only release one?
Hell to the yeah. That shit is annoying because the stuff that I made before this was equally as amazing. I should have listened to Salaam Remi. He did the majority of the stuff before this album and at one point he was like, "You should put it out. Why are you holding it?" I still was in a place where I was like, why am I going to put out music if I don't have an album? I was asking too many questions.

Frank Ocean hadn't happened yet.
Exactly.

On "Wanna Be," you say, "I'm the bitch you wanna be" and then someone says, "Wait, who?" Was that intentionally making fun of the fact that you've been away for so long, people might not know who you are anymore?
The producer came up with that. He was like, why don't you do something like, "Wait, what?" It was a guy named Blac Elvis. Isn't that the best name ever? At first I was like, why am I doing that? And then when I did it, I was like, oh, that's kind of funny. We were just being stupid in the studio that day.

Is "Grind or Die" the new "Ryde or Die?"
That was the first record I did. It was produced by this guy named Felix Snow. I guess it is my new "Ryde or Die." People have been like, "Where you been? What you been doing?" I've been grinding! In America I haven't really been around, but I've been nonstop doing shows for years, still recording, been trying to get this album out forever.

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When you take Lip Lock on tour, whom would you bring with you?
Missy Elliott for sure, because she's the shit. Kim would be amazing. Some of the new girls would be amazing. Angel Haze, Azealia. Why not?

You could mediate between Angel Haze and Azealia Banks.
Oh, that's right. Don't they not like each other? That might not be a good thing. We'd have to have a sit-down before tour.

It took you a while to get on Twitter. Is it hard to steer clear of Twitter beefs?
I want to curse people out probably every day. I want to say, "Give me your address so I can come see you, so I can go kill you." Not kill you, but punch you in the face. Seriously maim. It is hard to ignore. I have to remember that the majority of the energy I get from people is positive, in comments, so I try to stay there and not think of the one idiot or five idiots trying to dictate my mood.

What's it like working with someone like Miss Kitty, who's just getting started, versus Missy Elliott, who's been around for a while?
Missy's such an innovator. When she sent her song to me and I heard her voice, I was like, "Missy!" But she just wanted to try something different. With Miss Kitty, it was such a last-minute situation. She was actually friends with Shaggy, who gave me her number. I wrote the song and then decided, for some reason, I needed a Jamaican girl on it. So I called her and she did it at like one o'clock in the morning in Kingston and sent it back to me.

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You gave a good response to the Rick Ross controversy. How do you feel about Mountain Dew dropping Lil' Wayne?
He's a rapper! These people are signing people that—you know who they are. You're taking responsibility for signing them as them. They're not going to change who they are, talk in a different way than any other rap song that they've done. I think ultimately it's almost hypocritical of Mountain Dew. They knew when they signed him that he's a rapper and he does wordplay. And it was funny. Let it go.

So what exactly is the Gumball 3000?
Basically, it's a rally, not a race. You drive 3000 miles in seven days. This year, we're raising money for Tony Hawk's charity. It's literally just for car people to get together and enjoy this week of partying every night. All the hotels are set up. All your food's taken care of. You have to ship in your own car. But as far as having fun, you don't have to worry about it.

What kind of car are you going to drive?
This year we're going to drive a Morgan. Last year we drove a Shelby Cobra '65, the year before that we were in a Phantom, and the first year I did it I was in a Bentley GT convertible. I drive.

They're discontinuing Maybachs.
That sucks. Maybachs are beautiful. It'll be a classic. One of those classic cars. Kind of sucks, though.

Follow Harley on Twitter @harleyoliverb