Eve went viral after she revealed that Jay-Z once called her after the launch of her debut album to congratulate her, but warned her that female rappers don’t last in the music industry..
On the call, Jay allegedly told her that “female rappers don’t really do that well.”
The album proved to be a global hit, selling more than two million copies and even reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart.
Speaking to The Breakfast Club, she clarified her remarks and insisted that Jay-Z is a good man.
“He wasn’t saying it out of malice or mean… It was fact,” she shared.
“We all have that thing where someone say something, they don’t even know, where it’s like ‘Okay, I’m going to use that.’”
Eve is an American rapper, singer, and actress from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her debut studio album, Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders’ First Lady (1999) peaked atop the Billboard 200 (making her the third female rapper to do so), received double platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and 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”, both of which peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. She has enjoyed a successful career since breaking through the mainstream not only as a rapper but also an actress.