Eve interview: 'Gwen and I will get back in the studio'

|  By Robert Copsey  |  

Back in 2001, Eve went from reasonably successful US rapper to global star after teaming up with Gwen Stefani for the Grammy Award-winning track 'Let Me Blow Ya Mind'.

After a string of successful hits, she took an extended break from music following issues with her label and eventually set up her own, From The Rib Records.

With her LP Lip Lock out this week, we met up with the star to find out what else she's been up to during her decade-long absence.

Hello Eve! It's been over ten years since your last album and we've missed you. What happened?
"Thank you! After [2002 album] Eve-Olution I was supposed to release another album and that's when the label s**t just started getting crazy. It took me a long time to get out of my deal, then I joined EMI, which was also horrible! Now I'm independent and distributed through Sony. It's great to be able to do my own thing but still be backed by a major."

The industry has changed loads since you last released music; does that worry you?
"Honestly, I prefer it now. If I want to record some s**t tonight and put it out tomorrow, I can. Before, everything was so calculated and controlled. There's instant gratification now! Although I have to say, I miss the money that used to be in music. I miss those frivolous music videos that cost $1 million! The world is different now."

You were a lot younger then as well...
"I'm older now and I'd like to think my head is on a lot tighter. I had a lot of people around me. I was in the Ruff Ryders crew and there's always something going on - it was crazy but very fun. I'm such a hermit now, my circle of friends is so small."

Your new album Lip Lock is out this week. Are you feeling excited, nervous, or both?
"I'm so excited. The reaction has been good so far. There have been fans asking, 'Where's the Ruff Ryders stuff?'. I just think, that was a great moment in time but that's not what I'm about these days. I wanted it to be looking forward rather than bringing up the past."

There's still some pretty aggressive stuff on it...
"I feel like I had to do that for myself and the fans who have stuck with me. I hope I've made a bridge between the past and now on this record. Musically, it's influenced by so much - the shuffle on my iPod is so schizophrenic."

Eve

On the flip side, the collaboration with Dawn Richard 'Keep Me From You' and your latest single 'Make It Out This Town' sound much more chart-orientated.
"I really wasn't thinking about the charts when I made this album, although I probably should have! If I was thinking like that I would probably still be recording and feeling unhappy that I hadn't found the next big hit."

Did you consider collaborating with Gwen Stefani again for the LP?
"Oh yes! I would love for me and Gwen to get in the studio now - where we both are now. Both of our lives have changed so dramatically since that song. We're older now, and I'd love to see what we'd create. Hopefully that will be happening at some point - we'll put the call out."

There are a lot of female rappers on the charts at the moment like Nicki Minaj and Azealia Banks; are you a fan?
"I don't really listen to them. I do hear stuff and they're both really good. I like Azealia's wordplay, I think she's really cute lyrically. Nicki's doing her thing - she's found a lane and she's living in it really well."

Are you just as desperate to hear Beyoncé's album as we are?
"I've heard the couple of tracks she's put out so far and they sound really great. Something's up! It's definitely going to be a different album to anything she's ever done. I don't think it's going to sound like anything else, judging from the stuff she's put out so far."