Eve with Kathy Iandoli

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. Ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to our cool kid clubhouse, Quest Love Supreme. I'm
your host, Quest Love.

Speaker 2 (00:15):
We're giving the honor today to celebrate the release of
a brand new memoir. I will say that guest number one,
of course, is no stranger to the show.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
If you're also a lifetime vet.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
Of hashtag that site, then indeed our first guest should
be no stranger.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
She's been on the show before, music historian.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
I'm crying because the last time Kathy was on this
show she blessed us with Prodigy.

Speaker 4 (00:40):
So I'm just having a moment the last time she
was here. Hi, Yeah you had I'm sorry. Sorry, Yeah,
I Love.

Speaker 2 (00:49):
We will never ever get through an introduction without just
breaking it now for real. I will say this is
one of my favorite music historians. She's been pinning articles
and books and peace for the greater part of the
last two decades. Her books include God Save the Queen,
The Essential History of Women in Hip Hop. She's also
released a Baby Girl better is known as Aleiah and

(01:12):
the last piece that she came on the show with
back when our brother Prodigy was still with us. On
this Earthly Plane, the common Sary Kitchen, my infamous prison cookbook.
Not to be out done, the forthcoming Little Kim Queen
Bee memoir is also on the way, But of course
we are here today to celebrate her particular piece. Right

(01:35):
now with our guest, today, I will say multi platinum legendary,
Grammy Award winning singer, songwriter, mother, actress, entrepreneur, and MC
and Westville native currently in London. This is like the
reverse story of their roots. I had to run away
from London. Now you're living in London. She's blazed trails

(01:59):
for a greater part of the late nineties, making hip
hop history, top of the charts with countless singles and
her albums, and right now we're here to get into
her brand new memoir, Who's that Girl?

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Kathy. Okay, I'm not going
to mess this up. I'm not going to mess this up.

Speaker 4 (02:21):
You can do it from Philly.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Come on, do it, Ian Doley, correct.

Speaker 5 (02:25):
Dalay, it's only been twenty five years, but Eve comes first.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
I've never I've never called you by your last name.

Speaker 1 (02:33):
The mirror is pronounced and not to be outdone, the legendary.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
Their middle name.

Speaker 2 (02:44):
No, the legendary, the legendary. I don't even know if
I can say pootball and squirt. That's too older than referenced.
Welcome Eve to quest love, supremum, ladies and gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Thank you. How are you guys? Doing good? Great?

Speaker 2 (03:01):
I've not spoken to you since you became I mean
I've seen you on and off since you became a
London native.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
But where exactly London do you live right now?

Speaker 6 (03:10):
When? West London? So like near notting Hill area?

Speaker 1 (03:15):
You that near?

Speaker 6 (03:16):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (03:18):
No? Yeah, yeah? The accident all right.

Speaker 6 (03:23):
I told you some words happened. I can't help it,
especially now that I have a kid, because I say
stuff for him so it's consistent, and now it's like
it's a lot more. Can't help it.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
I missed that cat. How are you? How are you doing?

Speaker 5 (03:38):
I'm living a dream. How are you doing the mire?

Speaker 1 (03:41):
I'm good.

Speaker 2 (03:42):
I'd like to know how the what the genesis or
at the beginning of this putting this memoir together, because
I know that as far as I'm concerned. Like when
I was told to do a memoir, I was like
resistant because I thought memoirs and autobiographies are stories for
people that like turns, and people don't necessarily like to

(04:04):
start reflecting when they're still in the journey of their career.
So tell me how like this book came to be,
I would.

Speaker 6 (04:12):
Say, Well, one, me and Kathy just hit it off.
We kind of were talking on a different project. And
then once we kind of got into like it was
supposed to be a thirty minute call that'sned into like
a two hour call, and it was just.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
Like we can this episode, okay, and.

Speaker 6 (04:31):
Then and then we kind of yeah, it was The
question was like Kathy asked me kind of like you
never thought about doing a book, and I was like, yeah,
I kind of thought about it, and I've been asked
before years before, and I definitely I said no, like
I had said no, I wasn't into it. But those

(04:51):
reasons you pretty much just named. But this book, while
it is a memoir, it is a look back, but
it's also we figured a lot of it out on
the page as it went through. A lot of the
things that I talk about in the book are pivotal
moments in my life of lessons that I've learned that

(05:13):
kind of helped me get over certain things, get to
the next place in my career. But then the other
thing that kind of made me feel like, yo, I'm
really ready to talk about certain things was I was
definitely ready to be vulnerable, even more vulnerable things that
I already mentioned in my life, whether that was my

(05:33):
drinking situation, my fertility situation, and there are other things
in there. But the other thing is having a child.
And as cliche as it sounds, I feel that much
more for a whole, having that little piece of me,
And it made me feel confident to say, like, Okay,
while we're reflecting, it's also about my future. It's also about,

(05:55):
with lack of better term, the next chapters of my
life as well.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
So did you also go through with Kathy with this
book is not about in a way.

Speaker 6 (06:08):
Yeah, we definitely talked about it, not being salacious, not
being like if people are named, it's not so much like,
oh yeah, it's about them them that everything comes back
to what that person meant at that time in my life. Particularly.
We didn't want to make a book that was like juicy,

(06:28):
because you didn't want to be boring, but but we
didn't want it to be like clickbait. We didn't want
it to be like, oh, you just name and names
the name names. But don't you think, Kathy, what do
you think?

Speaker 5 (06:39):
Absolutely? But I think, like, I think the best part
about it was like, this is the first time for
me that it's collaborative writing too. So it wasn't like
me getting a bunch of information I go run away
and do something like it was. It was funny watching
like Eve right on the page with the Google dog
with me, you.

Speaker 6 (07:00):
Know, are.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
No, no, It's just I've had that type of battle
where I wanted to sort of reduce stuff and they
were like, no, just give this notes to me, or
like don't don't touch.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Don't touch the Google doc. Just give us notes and
we'll just and wow.

Speaker 3 (07:19):
Okay, we'll talk about deck, Kathy, because you said this
is the first time, So why was the Eve that
you kind of trusted in that way?

Speaker 5 (07:26):
Well, Eve trusted me, I mean that's the that's I
think that's more of the even more so. Yeah, yeah,
you know, but I think with regard to like in
collaboration with other you know, artists that I've worked with
and ones for our future projects, you know, like you
mentioned Prodigy. Prodigy and Eve are both Scorpios and I'm

(07:49):
a pisces, so that working relationship is actually like wonderful.
But when you know, with something like a memoir, because
you know, P and I didn't do a memoir. You know,
there was so much of like I didn't take for
granted the fact that like Eve was being so open,

(08:10):
So making sure that her hands are on the page
too is just equally important because this is her life,
you know, So being able to kind of go and
go through certain things on the page and just like
be like, okay, so.

Speaker 4 (08:26):
Do you want to go there? Do you not want
to go there?

Speaker 5 (08:28):
You can't It can't just be me going like off
into the wild with my lap top and then bring
him back, you know.

Speaker 4 (08:35):
Results.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
So now that I understand that, probably the most important
part of storytelling is editing.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Like purging is no problem, like you know, getting everything out.
But I'll say, like in any form of creativity, be
it music or books or whatever, like, what's the process
of editing, like like in terms of what to let
go and what to let fall on the floor and
how to structure a story?

Speaker 5 (09:03):
No, I think you know, when it comes to you know,
what are you going to keep and you know for
yourself and what are you going to give to the world.
I think it was like kind of like striking that
balance where it doesn't necessarily have to be I'm only
reserving all of this for my own personal story and
the rest I'll tell. Like, I think we split the
difference a lot, right, You've like where there's like, Okay,

(09:23):
I'm going to talk about this, but and I'm going
to process it. That's the one thing about this memoir
that I have to say is very different from so
many other memoirs that are out there, is that, like
it's a lot of Eve processing what happened, which it
provides like this like deeper look.

Speaker 4 (09:46):
So in the ending.

Speaker 5 (09:47):
Process, having to go back in and see what we're
able to kind of like take out while still keeping
the sentiment.

Speaker 6 (09:57):
I think, you know, it was the good part.

Speaker 5 (10:00):
We didn't have a lot of edits from the publisher
because we kept going in.

Speaker 4 (10:03):
And doing our thing. Yeah, I can only imagine what
y'all had to cut out.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
As we were getting ready for this interview, I was
just saying to Jake, I was like, you know, when
you think about Eve, it's been an interesting long twenty
years and for you personally but also professionally, Like the
chapters we were like somebody we were.

Speaker 4 (10:21):
Like fetish, you know, we were like, oh, the talk,
it's just so for y'all.

Speaker 3 (10:26):
It had to be amazingly hard to figure out what
to cut out in that way.

Speaker 6 (10:32):
We definitely got to a point where it was like, Okay,
what how do we want people to read this book?
And we got to a point where we were like,
you know what, And this was Kathy's like brilliant ideas.
She was like, let's make it more like essays like
bite size, so that way you get in the juicy

(10:52):
kind of funk bits that enough that needs to be there,
that tells the story of if people have been on
my journey, they're like, oh, yes, I remember that. Okay, Okay,
that makes sense. And it just that's when I think
it we figured it out once once you said that, Kathy.
I think that's when it was like, Okay, this makes
sense because it definitely could have been a lot more.

(11:14):
I definitely have kept some things to myself that I
felt like I needed to keep to myself. Well, And
it's funny because I've been obviously doing interviews for it,
and this is such a new process with me that
I feel so raw in a way that I've never
felt before ever. But having said that, I feel so

(11:35):
proud and confident of the book that we have done.
Like I and I called Kathy. I actually called Kathy
the day that I finished the audio. I called her
was like, girl, this is a good book. Girl, Like
thank you, girl, Like it was. I felt proud. I
felt actually like so proud. So yeah, I look the girl,
the girl.

Speaker 4 (11:55):
The way the audio book.

Speaker 3 (11:56):
I gotta know, is it like straight read just eat
reading or are we getting like a little production?

Speaker 4 (12:02):
In my mind, I was like, it's Swiss beast, which
when I.

Speaker 6 (12:06):
Tell you, I wanted that. I wanted a little more
like try to get something. But the publishers behind of
it's still fun, it's still good. There's emotion, like you
definitely feel parts of it. But yeah, I wanted to
do a little bit more, but they just yeah, she
is an actress.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
So I'm still excited.

Speaker 6 (12:23):
You know, you'll feel things, You'll definitely you get emotion
and things. So yeah, hopefully hopefully.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
Okay, So as as a Philadelphia I will ask you.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
What are your earliest memories of growing up in Philadelphia?
You were born in West Philly.

Speaker 6 (12:44):
Correct, Yeah, we'll part down forty sixth Street, the bottom,
the bottom from the book.

Speaker 1 (12:52):
Of course, I used to grow at the bottom. Then
my dad was like, where are you walking to?

Speaker 6 (13:02):
No, I'm just.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
Going to forty sixth Street, the bottom. That's how I
found out what the bottom was.

Speaker 6 (13:10):
You know, I'm from there, so no projects, That's where
I'm from. Uh, yeah, from Mill Creek, so yeah, I mean,
my earliest earliest memories of Mill Creek is music and noise. Kids.
You know the building I lived in because I was

(13:31):
born in the building and we moved to the low
houses outside block parties DJs like you know what I'm saying,
Like even back then was crazy back in the day.
And I'm like, there used to be food trucks back
in the day, like that, I remember that in the summertime,
Like I remember food and music and yeah that those

(13:53):
are my earliest memories actually of Philly.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
Man, Okay, what were your earliest memories of listening to
hip hop or discovering hip hop and like actually becoming
an MC, Like, what were your earliest memories of that.

Speaker 6 (14:07):
Earliest memories of hip hop come through my aunt Karen,
who I talk about in the book, who to me
was the epitome of hip hop. She was you know,
she loved LL so we always heard music. The radio
was always on. I loved Queen the Teeth of Salt
and Pepp, but that was always on. My dad was
a DJ, so music was always somewhere around me. Like

(14:28):
I started writing poems first, and then I joined the choir,
and then I sang, and then ABC came out and
I wanted to rap, and then like, and then I
had another back creation and I was like, I want
to rap, like I want to sing, and I want
to rap, and I want to dance. I want to
do everything. And then yeah, and then I would have

(14:48):
like little groups like my friends, and I would do
all the block parties, all the little like talent shows,
the school talent shows. I was NonStop, Like I was
that kid that was like, I have to do something.
I gotta be busy. So I was always even if
I was just singing somebody else's song, I was, I
was doing a talent show. And then when I turned

(15:09):
fifteen is when I was like, this has to be
my life, Like I want to be an MC period
point blank. I don't want to go to I knew
I didn't want to go to college. I knew I
wanted to pursue music.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
Where did you go to high school, Martin Luther King.

Speaker 4 (15:23):
Oh, King's so open.

Speaker 6 (15:25):
Too on Stanton Avenue.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
That was ar lean on Me School.

Speaker 6 (15:30):
That was the lean on Me School. We talked about
that in the book. We talked about that.

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Three my boys went to the King.

Speaker 4 (15:37):
So that's beautiful man, Martin Luther King alumni, bless him.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
That's my that's my Chris was in lying Martin Luther
King was brought up. There was some violence going down. Wow, So.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
Somewhere I want to get the white elephant out the
room right now.

Speaker 1 (16:00):
Look look like like all right, damn it.

Speaker 4 (16:05):
At least you know, like the whole convers how come already?

Speaker 1 (16:09):
No, no, no, no, you know what because this is the
thing I want this to be. Because I listened to
the music episode, I'm not fall of Banana in the
tail fight a.

Speaker 3 (16:20):
Third time, beautiful probably version. She probably a beautiful version
of the story.

Speaker 1 (16:24):
You know what's weird?

Speaker 2 (16:25):
I actually had the last three months I'm talking about
my therapy sessions. There have been a lot of conversations
about how I suck at communication. So when breaking this
down and various exercises I have to do, I now

(16:48):
realize how what.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
Went down between the Roots and the Eve went down.
Here's the quickest version, because this stove Eve's episode. This
is not the Roots. The therapy that this is not
the Roots me and a copa version, but this, this
is the most distinct version that I know of.

Speaker 4 (17:06):
I'm ready for this.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
My version I only knows.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
So this is what I know for things Fall apart
to be our career defining album. I'm very, very shocked
at how cohesive it sounds for a unit that pretty
much piece milled that album together without like communicating with

(17:33):
each other. So the shortest version of it is that
there was a period.

Speaker 7 (17:39):
In ninety seven or ninety eight in which, by that
point we had always recorded everything at Sigma Sounds Studios
in the former Philly International Classic Songs Made Studio Sigma.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
There is a period that we got kicked out of
Sigma for about two weeks. Without getting too personal to it,
We've covered the subject on the next aunum Fromnology concerning
our beloved fallen and Soldier Malik's struggles with his addictions,
and that got us kicked out of Sigma for about
two weeks. Fifteen of Kindred, the Family Soul recommended to

(18:23):
us that we move operations to what we now lovingly
called the studio named the Studio Larry Gold Studio, which
will subsequently be still our home technically for the last
like two and a half decades. Two weeks into recording there,
I realized that I don't like his boards and so

(18:47):
kind of hat in hand, I go to owner Joe
Tarci of Sigmund and say, look, I know we've been
kicked out the studio and banned from the studio, but
like I was using the you know, my dad, if
I promise not to bring people here, can I still
remain here and record? He thought about it, He granted it,
so he lowed me and Scott and certain members back

(19:08):
into the studio to record. So what winds up happening
is there becomes a triangle of creations. So all the
music is recorded at Sigma and then we send those tapes.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
This is about you got me just so they know
what we're doing here. We're setting a right.

Speaker 2 (19:24):
So thus we will record music at our studio and
then send the tapes to the studio where Tarika Malik
are and Richard. So basically I will say that every
song that ever appeared on Things Fall Apart. I'm hearing
it as a song for the first time when I'm

(19:44):
mixing the song, so, which is very unusual because normally
it's like, hey, we made it, you know, here's the
complete song. You want the demo Because of my back
and forth with DiAngelo and really not even though I
was very present for this record, I'm also working with D'Angelo.
So I'm hearing everything for the first time. I'm hearing
the next movement like song titles.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Oh what's this one? What's the Hawaii song called the
next movement?

Speaker 8 (20:09):
Uh?

Speaker 1 (20:09):
Okay, cool? Let me here. Oh that's cool. Oh what's
this called? Oh okay, step into the room.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
Literally, So when we finally got to you Got Me,
there was a gap in verse two whether there was
no rhymen from Tarik and I was never told there
was another guest on it. So there was like a
twenty minute back and forth like we can't find tarik'socal,
where's it?

Speaker 1 (20:31):
Where's it?

Speaker 2 (20:32):
And Rich's like, turn up track eighteen and I turned
it up and I'm like, wait, who's this.

Speaker 1 (20:38):
He's like Eve, who's Eve? He's like, you know, Eve
thede on for the jam sessions I'm one of those
members of the roots that's sort of like, just why
you look so disappointed.

Speaker 4 (20:48):
Like you disappoint I just wanted you to get to it.
I want to hear es versions.

Speaker 3 (20:51):
So were about to hear this twice because I know
that's a different story, but I'm.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Right, so I'm painting the story now. So as a result, well,
one you got Me was the very last song. I
mean very last song, like we should have turned the
album in two weeks ago, you know before that was
the last song worked on the album, meaning I had
already did credits and all that stuff, Like I literally

(21:18):
didn't know until the day of mixing that Eve existed.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
You know.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
By the way, I ain't saying nothing new. What you're
also on was a last minute song added on the
record as well. She's doing backgrounds. Okay, okay, right, even
the morning of shooting the video because Kilo was like, wait,
why not invited to the video? And I was like, well,
I don't know, Like I thought you guys invited her. No,
I thought you invited her, Well rich did we No,

(21:45):
we didn'tvite it was so we were just extremely in
considerate and so insular and so noncommunicative with each other.

Speaker 1 (22:00):
That things like that always filled on the sidelines. But
I never wanted you to think it was a thing
where it's like, let me erase her out of history.

Speaker 6 (22:09):
No, I didn't think of it so much like that.
Everything you're saying makes complete sense. I totally understand. I
didn't think of it like that. What I took it
as is like, here is this girl who's I wasn't
signed at the time. Nobody did know who I was
at that time, so I kind of took it as well,
you know you you guys were like this was a

(22:31):
huge record. Then Eric got on it. So it did
feel like, oh shit, because someone said somewhere sent to
the person that I was hanging out with, the girl
who was kind of like helping me out New York.
I lived in New York at the time, got an address,
but nothing was at this address, so I don't know
who how, and it became a miscommunication. Possibly what all

(22:55):
that you're saying makes complete sense. But I definitely felt like, damn,
they lied about the andres.

Speaker 4 (23:06):
You guy haven't got dressed for the video and they
sent you the wrong address.

Speaker 6 (23:09):
Yes, I like, yes, it felt like it was like, oh,
that's not this.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
We deserve to redo. It's too late.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
Well let's go back.

Speaker 6 (23:22):
All of that has to happen, like the story has
been told. But we've performed together since then, we've seen
each other since.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
It was like, y'all done, you got me together.

Speaker 6 (23:31):
We did it. It was a long time ago.

Speaker 1 (23:34):
We did it.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
We did it like three times. We did it once
at Electric Factory once I.

Speaker 4 (23:39):
Remember for the party.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yeah, I think we did it once, like when that
came out.

Speaker 6 (23:44):
We've done it. But it's like, you know, it's one
of those things because it's like it's such weirdly because
I was in such a holding pattern at that time
in my career. I was like this unknown butt signed
but no budget, no nothing yet. But I was signed
and I was working on music. It was such a
weird place either. I was kind of in purgatory ishu

(24:07):
for a minute as well.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
So like, yeah, and it's the story Eve, because the
urban legend that I always heard was that Kilo Sanders
was the one that introduced you to that process of
that song.

Speaker 4 (24:18):
But what how did you become the Eve? And you
got me? How did you?

Speaker 3 (24:23):
You know?

Speaker 6 (24:23):
What's funny? I don't remember who said come through to
the studio cause I used to kind of just be around.
I don't know if it was Scott or was it Keith.
I don't really remember how it kind of happened because
I used to come through to the studio, so I
don't know who. You know what I'm saying like, it
was kind of almost like oh shit. It might have
even been like oh shit, oh even be dope on this.

(24:46):
I don't know who how it. I don't remember I asked.

Speaker 3 (24:49):
You all the question because at the time, for y'all,
I'm watching your careers as a radio personality in Philadelphia, right,
And what's interesting is for most of us who were there,
we understood that, like the first time we really her
Eve commercially was on You Got Me. However, being a
Philadelphia radio personality, it was interesting to see your careers grow, right.
So for the roots, y'all became international every other city

(25:11):
but Philly, And it was interesting because for Eve, not
only did you do all that, but you also became
like a Philadelphia hero in that. Yeah, And I always
wonder what that was like for y'all going those directions.

Speaker 6 (25:24):
Maybe because I was still so close to Philly being
in New York, Like, my career was still just kind
of so I was with the Rough Riders. I was
in Harlem or Yunkers most of the time. So I
was so close to Philly for the first beginning of
my first probably two years of my career really, and
when you went.

Speaker 3 (25:42):
Around I would tell people like, your mom would fill in.
She would be she would show up at a community
events and stuff.

Speaker 6 (25:47):
Literally literally my mom was like always there. So like, yeah,
maybe that's what it was, because I didn't really go
international at all, probably until mid second album. My goodness, Yeah,
how about for.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
You and me or what was that we had to
leave Philadelphia to move to London.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
I mean at that time, the only example I knew
of was Jimmy HENDRICKX, and it was like he couldn't
get arrested.

Speaker 1 (26:15):
Well, it's not that he couldn't.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Get arrested in the United States, but I don't think
the United States was necessarily ready for a primitive exotic.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
Has you been watching Age Rise, because at the time
she's got like two three radio hits, you know what
I mean and whatnot, And so that's what I.

Speaker 4 (26:29):
Just thought it was interesting in that way that.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, in my mind, I was like, yeah, this is
about right.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
The last part of this story was when we did
Woodstock three, X was mad as shit. We shared a
backstage with X and DMX the Roots and whole James
Brown like Jamaariquai. Everybody's like on Woodstock three and we
walk in and you know, like the talking that you

(26:58):
get right before you get a wood with him from
your pops when black men start talking with the back
of their head on on the left palm.

Speaker 1 (27:07):
I got ass, why y'll do even dirty like that?

Speaker 7 (27:11):
No?

Speaker 6 (27:11):
Did he? For real?

Speaker 8 (27:12):
Oh?

Speaker 1 (27:12):
Dog? He read us the right act. Yo.

Speaker 6 (27:17):
I love that so much. I love that song.

Speaker 1 (27:28):
I love.

Speaker 6 (27:30):
That's the act man, Please.

Speaker 4 (27:33):
Tell us a story.

Speaker 2 (27:36):
He read us the right act about that, and I
was like, all right, I gotta make this right.

Speaker 4 (27:41):
That's beautiful.

Speaker 6 (27:42):
Wow, And what did y'all say?

Speaker 4 (27:44):
What y'all say?

Speaker 6 (27:45):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (27:48):
I think at the time, I was like, well, dude,
she's like the biggest things in sliced bread, Like she
wasn't gonna blow up on us, like if anything we
needed her then that like she got the last word
because simply because even with the jail story and then
Erica like you got me was a mess all over
the place. There was the Erica jail thing, there was

(28:11):
your situation. Like it was so many small compartments that
it was almost like, yeah, we deserve this screaming, all right,
let it, let's let us hear it X. So we
just took it. I mean, of course we got Colt later,
but he was mad as shit that day. But no, dude,
I've always, always, always, always.

Speaker 1 (28:30):
Been been proud of her.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
This is what I didn't know. So even when I'm
asking Rich who is this person? He brought up to
me that you were part of what we now know
as the Black Lily Jam sessions, that you were coming
to the jam sessions.

Speaker 6 (28:46):
To be there all the time at a Meer's house.
I mean not all yeah, I mean not all the time.
I was there, Like I used to just be around
and I think it was like one of those things
where people knew what I did, but maybe you know,
it was everybody hung out you. It became one of
those things like because it just was I was just

(29:07):
an artist hanging out. It wasn't you know how you
know how it gets like.

Speaker 4 (29:12):
But it's very Philly. Though it's not special, it was
still a special time.

Speaker 2 (29:15):
The stroller broke the Camel's back for me was when
ten year old Jasmine Sullivan was just hanging in the
living room. By week five, I mean you've heard the
stories a mirror call of cops on his own party.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
I wouldn't show up like by week.

Speaker 4 (29:34):
Five, ip a mere bad cop.

Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, like it was my crib.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Like the next day, no one's around to pick up
beer bottles and beatis on my rug.

Speaker 6 (29:47):
Oh not a beaty.

Speaker 8 (29:49):
It was the nineties, Yo, got nostalgic for Beaties. Shit emotional.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
So by week five I have been protesting my own
jam sessions. And by week five, yeah, like I apparently
missed John Legend being in my crib.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
I missed Bean's freeway. Chris and Nef.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
Well blow was hard to miss because he, I mean
he was like yodling back in nineteen ninety seven when
nobody was doing primitive yodel noises in jam sessions. But
I mean pretty much, I would say that I was
disconnected to the jam sessions in my own living room

(30:34):
until it moved to the.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
Five spot, of which it was out of my house.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
So and Eve was gone by then, and she was Soren.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
Literally, But what I want to know is, Okay, because
you got me.

Speaker 2 (30:47):
Isn't your first debut a year before you were on
the board soundtrack as Eve of Destruction. So can you
tell the story of how your brief journey I gets
guess with Doctor Dre first before you Want the Rough Riders.

Speaker 6 (31:03):
Yeah, so Dre was I mean, Aftermath was my first
record deal and that song was a demo. It was
one of the demo songs I did for Dre. I
basically met Mike Lynn like during the week, like my homeboys.
That was my managers at the time, drug dealer slash Managers.

(31:24):
Was like, Yo, come through, Mike Linn's coming to my house.
But you know I've told this to him many times,
but you know, pretend to be the wee girl because
he thought I was selling some weed. And then so
I was like okay. And then I get to the
house and we put on music immediately and I start rapping,
and He's like, what the fuck is going on? Why
is we girl rapping? But then he listens and they

(31:48):
like they quickly talked to him like, Yo, I know
you ain't want to hand nobody else, but I'm telling
you need to hear her. And he was like all right,
fuck it. You yeah, and I start rapping and he
calls Dre right there like yo, I think we found
our girl. And that weekend I got flown to La
to demo with Melman and that song even Destruction. He

(32:11):
took it and put it on the board soundtrack, which
was like, how is this happening? Like I was like,
first demo, first professional, real demo. I did demos all
the time, but like, you know, first one that's ships
on the line, and that to be put on the
soundtrack was crazy.

Speaker 1 (32:29):
Okay, So the one thing I'm obsessed with now that
I'm older, Yeah, it is the amazement when artists don't
get in their own way or figure out how to
mess it up when they get an opportunity.

Speaker 6 (32:43):
I did mess it up, though, I messed it up,
and so no, so this is why I'm I'm gonna
tell you why I'm here. Messed up and got dropped
and got humbled, and then I had another chance and
that's how I got signed to Rough Riders. So the
eight months that I was in LA with Dre, I

(33:05):
was philly feisty and was showing up to sessions I
wasn't supposed to be at Like when am I reporting
you got me all the way out. And I was
being super all day, all day, you got me all
the way out in LA like I thought I was
supposed to be recorded like I was super Philly, and
then I got dropped because he was like I can't

(33:29):
deal with this, like what's happening? So I got sick Philly.
After I had a big going away party, after I've
been living in a condo, living my you know, had
a bank account, everything back in my mom's house, had
to catch the bus again, all of that, and at
that time I decided I need I wanted to drop

(33:49):
the destruction because I had to talk with myself like
if I ever get this opportunity again, who is it
I want to be as an artist? Who do I
want to show the world? And I was like, I
just want I want to be Eve. And then I
got the phone call to go to Yonkers and I
was like, Okay, this is it, this is it.

Speaker 4 (34:06):
I gotta run because the moment from them that felt
like this was it one.

Speaker 6 (34:10):
And it's funny because I talk about Jimmy Ivy in
the book, but he was the person that was like
and he could have dropped me. I was obviously after
math in a scope, Jimmy could have been like, oh cool,
like you dropping this girl, We don't need her anymore.
He decided to keep me. Jimmy was the one that
decided to keep me and was like, I think rough
Riders would be a good fit for you. And that's

(34:32):
when I got the call from management again, Like yo,
Jimmy called and said you need to go. You need
to go to Yonkers to meet rough riders, which I
had already known of the rough riders, Like I met
X when I was signed to Dre already, so I
used to kind of hang out with him when he
would come to La Melman actually introduced me, so we'd
be in the same you know, at the same places

(34:53):
and whatever. When X had a show, I would go,
so they knew me kind of.

Speaker 4 (35:00):
They also are a Philly crew as well.

Speaker 3 (35:01):
I always got confused with that with the bikers, like
it was a it was a whole Philly, it's.

Speaker 6 (35:05):
A whole national thing, so like, yeah, you know how
Philly is Philly loved. So there was a huge rough
rider like set of people in Philly for sure that
repped rough riders more for riding than they did for music, right, Okay,
so yeah, so yeah, once I got once I got
that call and I was like, Okay, we're going up here.
I have to make this happen, like I have to

(35:26):
make this happen. This is this is the moment, This
is the moment.

Speaker 3 (35:31):
Was there a song moment that when you was working
on something and you was like this shit just clicks
like it's this isn't it?

Speaker 6 (35:37):
Like it wasn't so much that you know. With Rough
Riders they treated us like it. And I've said this before,
but they treat it was like a boot camp. So
when I finally got signed of Rough Riders, they would
have us in different rooms. Like some artists, they'd be
like you same beat, we're all writing on the same beat,
but we would be in separate rooms. Thetel w Yeah

(35:58):
and D or why would come and be like let
me hear what you got, Let me hear what you
got and see whosever fucking verse was hottest would get
on the beat or whatever. So it was constant, like
you know, it was. It was where I learned how
to write actual, an actual song, because I'm a battle rapper.
That's how I used it. I was bars. I was
sixteen twenty four bars in ciphers. That was who I was.

(36:20):
I didn't know how to make a song. I didn't
really I knew what a hook was, but I didn't
know how to do that myself.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
So in those eight months, did you work with Dre
at all personally?

Speaker 6 (36:35):
Maybe? Like once I I worked with a lot of
different other producers. It really didn't work with.

Speaker 1 (36:40):
Everyone unders like Mike Alexandro or.

Speaker 6 (36:44):
Yes, exactly. But even then within that time, at that time,
at Aftermath, there were no real A and rs. Really,
I think Dre was great at and especially because you
know he's a producer or artist. But I think it
was an and that's why when Eminem got signed it
was easy. That was easy because Eminem came fully formed

(37:04):
in a way, if that makes sense, you know what
I'm saying. I think whenever they needed to figure out
how to place someone or how to direct them, it
just didn't work out.

Speaker 2 (37:15):
When you get to Rough Riders, because you've done like
your most powerful work with with Swiss's what's the working
relationship with how you and Swizz make songs together.

Speaker 6 (37:29):
Swiss is great. I always call him a bouncing ball
because Swiss is like energy and you just it is
so infectious so we sometimes would bang out like three
four songs a day, like just like and some of
that shit was cool, some of it wasn't. Some of
it was piece, you know, it was little piece. Maybe
it's a hook over here, but he's a verse KND
or maybe we take this whatever, but we because we

(37:52):
and even though Swiss was family, because I always say
I'm the adopted kid of the rough Riders, because everybody
else I are are either actual blood family or like
from the young from Yonkers, from Harlem or whatever they know.
But with me and Swiss, we both had something to prove,
same age, same position basically, so we just clicked and

(38:15):
energetically we just got each other. And it's it's the
same to this day, like you know, yeah, we just
get each other.

Speaker 4 (38:23):
And to this day, y'all in the studio, I know.

Speaker 6 (38:29):
That was good. That was good. No, you know, we
both know what we gravitate towards, like sound wise or whatever.
Because well sometimes it has it's been a while now,
I will say, but sometimes we'll send the song or
send the beat, or he'll send me something and be like, oh,
you know, you might like this whatever. It's been a

(38:50):
while for that, but but yeah, now we just I
feel like we both knew we had something to prove,
but we also wanted the same We wanted to be
like at the top of the pecking order. In a way.
They never played us against each other, they never put
us against each other, but you felt it within the
crew it was healthy competition and you wanted to be

(39:13):
that next one that was called to get on the
verse or called to make the beat. So we both
had that same like, nah, we gotta make this happen.
Let's let's let's fucking do it. Let's do it. So yeah, as.

Speaker 3 (39:25):
When you figured out the hook thing, because you said
that if you didn't know how to do hooks, but
then you know, you became good at this.

Speaker 6 (39:32):
Darn Darren. Darren helped me with that, darrantee Darren, and
why I think just being in the studio and as
we got closer to like when we really figured out
like okay, when I was picked, I was say, after
the rough Rider's anthem and they were like, your next
to do the album. Then it became like, all right,
you need to and he already was doing this anyway,

(39:54):
like you don't how pheelly people. We talked fast sometimes
so he used to just be like, you need to
back a little bit more. Now end it here, do
eight bars over here? Do this over here? Like so
it took it, you know, it was just I guess
coaching really was coaching.

Speaker 2 (40:10):
Yeah, I'll say probably with the song on your debut
that resonated with your fan base, of course, his Love
is Blind. Can you talk about just the genesis of
how that song came to be in the process behind it?

Speaker 6 (40:27):
Yeah, I wrote that. I wrote it as a poem
when I was sixteen because my friend at the time,
she was seventeen, she was dating this dude. He might
have been like, I don't know, twenty eight thirty something.
He used to keep her in an apartment like all
that kind of stuff. He used to beat her and
he was married like all of that. And sometimes she

(40:48):
would come to my house. She have a black eye,
or she has like some bruises on or whatever. And
then she got pregnant for him, had his baby. He
wasn't there. I was. I held the baby first. I
was there while she got the epidural. I'm sixteen, she's seventeen.
Like I wrote, the first two verses of Love Is Blind?
Is the is the poem and then when we when

(41:09):
I decided to turn it into a song, I just
added that third verse for obviously dramatics because obviously didn't
kill anybody. But then when that beat in the hook,
I just wanted to keep it super simple, like love
is blind and it'll take go, like it's so simple.
But it really was how I felt like she really

(41:30):
did love this dude, like we were so young, like.

Speaker 4 (41:35):
Eve has always been forth right.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
Because I just saw a clip of y'all from Forever Ago,
if you Andrea that was her name, and her on
stage and y'all talking about that. Do y'all keep in
communication at all?

Speaker 6 (41:45):
Or oh, I haven't spoken to her in years. We
kept in touch for a while, like once I kind
of got into the industry, and then even once I
was on the road, she moved in with my mom,
she with her kid, like you know she We tried too,
and then things just fell apart. Sadly, I feel like

(42:08):
life be life. And also it was one of those
things too when I talk about this in the book,
that I tried to take all of my friends on
tour because I felt like I didn't want them to
think that I was changing, and God, I'd recommend not doing.

Speaker 4 (42:26):
That to get them jobs. They got to.

Speaker 6 (42:30):
I gave them jobs, but they didn't do them they
I gave them. I remember about this in the book
as well. I for my friends they who had the baby, Andrea,
I gave her a bit more because she as a kid.
And then but she told one of the other people
and then they was like, well why sheet like it
just became a thing. Yeah, I don't recommend doing that.

Speaker 3 (42:54):
We haven't talked about this, but it feels like Rough
Riders was a nice comforting place. But you have always
been the woman in a male place. And I know
you talk about this in the in the book a lot,
but can you talk about like protection in that way
or armor, Like were you protected or did you have
heavy armor on yourself? Can you were there's situations when

(43:15):
you couldn't use either one.

Speaker 4 (43:16):
I mean, you know, can you just talk about it.

Speaker 6 (43:18):
I definitely was protected. I feel so lucky, thankful, grateful
that I was in the crew that I was in
because they protected me, respected me, and celebrated me for sure.
So I think I was lucky in that way. But
outside of that, I'm just trying to figure my life out,

(43:40):
Like I'm this you know, I'm young, I got money.
Now I'm famous like I want to be. But don't
nobody tell you about fame. I'm drinking, I'm smoking weed.
I'm trying to keep up with my friends. I gotta perform.
I gotta make decisions that like it was so much
at one time, and it happened so fat, everything happened

(44:01):
so fast, and then you're exhausted, like I was exhausted
in a way that I never even knew what that was, Like,
I don't so I think in a lot of ways,
the armor that I did have for myself personally just
got broken down and chipped away. You know, I had
a breakdown. I had to quit my first tour, right

(44:21):
you know, I had a lot of stuff that went on,
and it took me a long time to come back
to a sanity and a happiness, which is what I
prayed for when I have my breakdown, Like I was, like,
I don't give a fuck about fame. If I can
get my sanity and my happiness back, I can do anything.

Speaker 4 (44:38):
Yeah, Because I.

Speaker 3 (44:39):
Hope y'all make clear in this book that Eve was
a first and a lot so therefore she didn't have
a lot of peers that could be like, hey do this.

Speaker 4 (44:46):
I mean you were the first.

Speaker 3 (44:47):
I felt like you were the first female em se
to have a successful clothing line, the first to have
a TV show, like all these firsts. So now it's
easier for everybody else because Eve kind of opening door.

Speaker 2 (44:58):
Was there ever a network with your peers at the time, Like,
were you ever close to Kim or Fox or Lauren
where you just talk about things or were you kind
of in this thing isolated? Is commonality of just being
a woman enough to form a bond or.

Speaker 6 (45:19):
That's a good question. I when I got signed, I
thought it was this big sisterhood, so like I was
such a nerd. I used to run up to everybody
and be like, girls, how much girl a girl? I
want you to get on the hot girl like and they
would be looking at me like this fucking nerd, Like
who the fuck the fuck is this? Like we talked
about this, Kathy. The first time I met Kim, I

(45:39):
was like, grow me and my friends who just smoking
to you all the time, And I had you beg
like a girl and she was just like wow, like
it was a lie overwhelming, like and I learned It
took me a minute to learn, like, oh, it's really
not like that. There's not a sisterhood here. And I
do think a lot of it was people, the industry, crews, whatever,

(46:02):
was pitting each other against each other because why can't
we get along, Why can't we hang out? Why it's
only us little minority we should be hanging out. That's
not to say, listen, I love Missy, I love Trina.
They immediately they are have always been. You know, my
people always have been. Kim. I loved we had a situation.

(46:24):
I love her to death, not like but it was
more of a misunderstanding. It wasn't even color us, you
know what I'm saying. So I think sometimes there's this time.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
They don't want y'all to compare paychecks and things like that.
That too, and budgets and things.

Speaker 6 (46:37):
But yeah, I don't know, Kathy, you can speak to
this too, But I just feel like, you know, it's
it's sad. Why why can't we hang out?

Speaker 4 (46:47):
Shit? What you say, Pathy, you did the research.

Speaker 5 (46:52):
I mean, it's the first lady trop right, So it's
like this idea that like, mentally it's always like I'm
the first lady of this crew. So I mean, because
that media coach all the new girls, and I see
that they don't have a crew where they're singled out
and they're.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
All hanging out now they are.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
Ye, it's amazing.

Speaker 5 (47:14):
Yeah, it's interesting to see.

Speaker 4 (47:17):
It's interesting. I like to see. I see Megan with
Glow and I'm like, oh, I love it. You know,
it's beautiful.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
I just yeah.

Speaker 3 (47:22):
But it's also it had it was an evolution because
also it was a time when they felt like female
mcs needed a male crew, and so these girls have
to know.

Speaker 6 (47:31):
That it's true that it did. It was the co sign,
it was the co sign back in the day. It's true.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
Yeah, Now, how did you feel about Let There Be
Eve breaking the barriers that it did? It not only
broke barriers just for women in hip hop, but just
hip hop in general. Like a number one album is
number one album, no matter how you slicense a victory
for you know, the art form itself. But going into

(47:59):
making Scorpion, what was your mental state at least as
far as your creative process, the feeling of pressure and
keeping that momentum going.

Speaker 6 (48:12):
Yeah, I definitely definitely felt the pressure. I definitely felt
that people were like, can she do it again? Can
it is it gonna be as good like that sophomore
curse or whatever. That is something I definitely thought about.
But that being said, I definitely felt like I wanted to,
I don't know, expand a little bit more, maybe do

(48:35):
something slightly different. I always feel like it was weird
because I didn't have the same I always feel like
my first album is the album I wrote. I've been
writing that my whole life, and then you get in
the business and they're like you need to hurry up
and put out another album. You're like, shit, I got
two months, but I've been working on this one piece
of thing forever, you know what I mean, Like I've

(48:57):
been waiting to show the world. There's one thing. The
only cohesiveness I really had about the second album, like Scorpion,
was like I want everything to be read, I want
red hair like that was the only kind of things
I could kind of control and think about. And the
song he kind of just did you know. It was
the first time I really traveled. We did it. We
did the whole album in Miami. The whole crew came down,

(49:20):
so it was kind of just being in the studio
to see what what would strike, what would happen, and
then I had to fly to La with Dre do
Blow your Mind, which was great.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
With Scott Storch, was that the last song you worked.

Speaker 6 (49:35):
On wasn't the last, but probably close to last. I
don't know if it was the last last, but it
was probably close.

Speaker 4 (49:41):
To last for y'all. I loved that for y'all.

Speaker 3 (49:45):
How y'all intermingled like that, Like I just the Scott
moment just came me, like, oh yeah, Scott, Scott roots Sorry.

Speaker 4 (49:50):
I was like, that's do.

Speaker 2 (49:52):
But also yeah, I always find the bigger songs that
the last ones down the line. There's one song in
particular always wanted to know about. You have Tina Marie
on your album. She did Life is so Hard, I think.

Speaker 6 (50:07):
On my album Wow, I just was like that would
be It was a dream come true to me because
I like me and my friends used to listen to her.
You know who didn't. But I feel like Philly loved
Tina Marie. I don't know, like I guess everywhere I did,
but I feel like she was a part of my
music growing up as well, and I had to have
her on that album. I didn't get a chance to

(50:31):
work with her though, we talked. I think we talked
on the phone or something. He didn't her studio because
it was signed to.

Speaker 1 (50:39):
Cash Money at the time.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
That's right, that was the last thing.

Speaker 6 (50:42):
But yeah, I just was so like thankful, grateful legend.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
Like, yeah, most people in the hip hop realm will
start to pivot maybe ten years after their career starts,
but you pretty much started pivoting really by album one
by album too.

Speaker 1 (51:06):
You know, you.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Were already doing acting and sort of expanding, doing shows
and whatnot. Can you just talk about in general the
feeling of I guess when the world is your oyster.
And I'm asking this in terms of I'm kind of

(51:28):
studying people who get these opportunities and again self sabotages,
kind of an obsession of mind and watching other artists operate,
but getting these opportunities, you know, doing the barbershop series
or getting your own sitcom, like at this time, is just.

Speaker 3 (51:48):
Acting a mirror she did. I don't remember her acting
before she had her own show, like Don't.

Speaker 1 (51:52):
Do You No? Were you in the woods I don't
know when The Woodsman came, but.

Speaker 6 (51:58):
The Woodsman was aft of the show I believe, Okay, okay, I.

Speaker 5 (52:02):
Should know these things, but I'm pretty sure seeding Triple
X and Barbershop at the same time.

Speaker 6 (52:08):
Maybe during the same time.

Speaker 5 (52:11):
As as the Eve Show one two thousand and six, Yes, yes,
and and.

Speaker 6 (52:22):
I guess yeah, but Barbershop, I feel like it was
wasn't that after No, it wasn't.

Speaker 4 (52:27):
It wasn't after Eve. It was the same time.

Speaker 6 (52:29):
Yeah, it wasn't. So yeah, I guess it's all call mingles.
I will say that that was Troy Carter's.

Speaker 4 (52:36):
Thank you for saying his name.

Speaker 6 (52:38):
Yeah, I knew, you know, I've known Troy's It was
like fifteen and then he became my manager. Mark Byers
was my manager first, and then Troy his.

Speaker 4 (52:48):
Name Lord Jesus and Troy.

Speaker 6 (52:54):
You know, Troy came from the Overbrook will Smith camp.
That for him, that blueprint was very easy of like music,
we're going to act if you want longevity. So I
was kind of like, okay, cool. I was kind of
just like, let me see how it goes. And at
first I was actually opposed to acting because I was like,

(53:17):
I make music, I don't really want to act.

Speaker 2 (53:20):
I was going to say, most people will figure out
a billion excuses to not do it. Yeah, going down
to San Francisco Hill with no breaks like.

Speaker 6 (53:33):
I did try and you know what happened. This is
why Troy was good. He was like, look, why don't
you meet with an acting coach. If you hate the process,
I will never bring it up again. And my acting
coach was Tracy Moore Marrable, who is amazing and at
the time, yeah, she had been working with pretty much

(53:53):
every rapper that was about to that was starting to act.
She was like, it was like she was doing bust
the Ludicris like everybody. And I met her and she
literally said to me because I was like, well, I
don't know if it's for me, blah blah bah, she
was like, you know, every time you do a video
yet basically acting, and I was like Dune and I
was like and that just like opened my my whole

(54:18):
brain up to accepting, like all right, well let me try,
you know, and I am very much that person though
in my personality I am a very much like let
me see, let me just see, I am that person.
So she opened that part up.

Speaker 1 (54:33):
What was the first the Barbershop Triple X.

Speaker 6 (54:36):
So Barbershop was the first official role I got that
I read for Triple X. Came by mistake because the
rapper that was supposed to do it, and I believe
it was Ludacrous. I think he got sick of something
and I happened to be in La at that time
and we got a call. Troy got a call like,
but she want to come do this movie like and

(54:57):
I was like, yeah, well fuck it. So that was
first movie, but official role was Barbershop Terry.

Speaker 3 (55:04):
I love how everything happened for a reason because Luda
wasn'tupposed to be in that movie with him.

Speaker 4 (55:08):
He was supposed to Ben Diesel. He's supposed to being
fast and furious.

Speaker 6 (55:12):
Yeah, I think it was Luda. I'm pretty sure it
was Luda. Pretty sure. Do we say that in the book?
I can't remember. I don't know if we said I
say his name. I don't think I see his name,
but I'm pretty sure it was him. I'm pretty sure.
I'm not one hundred percent, but yeah maybe.

Speaker 3 (55:25):
By the way, I just want to also mention for
the people listening, like the beautiful parallel of you and
Tory Carter's career, and how we wouldn't have not only
just you, but a person named Lady gat Gay.

Speaker 6 (55:34):
Like we don't speak often. We had a moment where
we when we kind of split ways. That was probably
one of my hardest relationship breakups because we have been
together for a long time and he did a lot
for me. Both we every birth because we're both scorpios
as well, so we do happy birthdays every year to
each other. And when I see you know, I've run

(55:54):
into him over the years and it's all love always.
He's amazing our black Bill Gates of such.

Speaker 2 (55:59):
Okay, what would you say is the most important lesson
that you've learned? And not meaning like, if you could
do something over again, would you or are you fine
with the journey that you're on right now, this very path.

Speaker 1 (56:15):
That you've taken, if you could go back in time.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
What's the one bit of advice that you wish you
could dole to your young adult self.

Speaker 6 (56:26):
Probably to truly, truly, truly trust your gut. I got
to a point there was a few years in my
like where I just did not trust myself or trust
any of the decisions that I was making. For some reason,

(56:46):
I just didn't trust my gut. I couldn't feel my gut.
And I think it had a lot to do with
my anxiety and I was drinking, so yeah, a lot
of that. I definitely would not have numbed myself as
much as I tried to numb myself. That probably would
be the biggest thing. But there's so many, you know,
as artists, and when you just you feel so much,

(57:07):
you see so much, and I think that I was
just trying, I don't know, to try to stay grounded.
But all that shit is learning as well, you know
what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
I mean now we kind of live in an era
in which artists are really transparent about their mental health
recovery and actively participating in be it therapy or life
coaching or that sort of thing at times, like, did
you ever like actively go to therapy or that sort
of thing too?

Speaker 6 (57:35):
I did. I love healing, like healing work, so whether
that's like crystals or meditation or literally seeing a healer,
a shaman and things like that, I'm into all that
kind of stuff. Talk therapy I did try. I wasn't
good at it because I didn't feel like telling the

(57:57):
whole truth and nothing but the truth, because I wasn't
in touch with those feelings right and want to really
feel those feelings. So talk therapy mean shit. When you're
not really showing up.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
So when did you allow yourself to be vulnerable only
when I.

Speaker 6 (58:13):
Was really drinking or if I was like taking Mollie
and then I'd be like on the world. And then
let me tell you how I got to because I
also was one of those people who never cried. I
didn't cry. I didn't then I'm serious, I didn't cry. Really,
I'm in one of my besties, E Lefty. Shout out
to E Lefty was I remember one time she got

(58:34):
big boots one day she was like, girl, please you
need a hug. Please put your head, you need you
need a hand in your hand on my bosom. And
it's okay, a hug. She's like, it's okay, you're my friend.
Like we can hug it. Like I just didn't grow
up in a family of touchy lovey so it took
me years. But even you know, and I talk about
this in the book, I also grew up in a
family that I didn't really know how to communicate, going

(58:56):
back to communication, whether it was good or bad. So
he didn't say I love you. You kind of knew it,
but we also really didn't scream or argue. It kind
of was just quiet or crazy in the house.

Speaker 8 (59:07):
Do you find yourself counteracting that with your own child,
as in, like if you grew up in a colder family,
do you find yourself.

Speaker 6 (59:12):
Being over Oh, I am the smotheriest mother of like
he's too half and he's already like mama.

Speaker 4 (59:21):
That's very important to Bill's point too.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
I was wondering how you incorporate all of this history
and stuff into this new life that you live in
a whole nother country, Like I'm thinking, do your step
kids even understand the legacy of who you are? And
then the philliness, like how because I know even with
your son, like how do.

Speaker 8 (59:39):
You still that phi British? Really impressive just to sen
to you talk like all of a sudden we're in
I know, I have a lot.

Speaker 6 (59:49):
It's funny because my son he definitely has a twain
on top of like British words. He definitely says stuff
and a twang that is like that's definitely philly. H
But you know, having kids, I will say, is huge
for me because even though again I didn't grow up
in a house that I said I love you or

(01:00:10):
we argued when it did blow up, there was screaming,
I don't want to be a screaming mom, but I
want to be a tough mom because I'm not into that,
you know, soft, It's just not I know, it's not
gonna help with my kid. Is that being a best friend?
You know? So I'm trying to figure that out. I'm

(01:00:32):
trying to figure out how to.

Speaker 3 (01:00:34):
Oh there's a nice medal in there, like I mean,
I'm scared of my mother, but she my best friend.

Speaker 6 (01:00:39):
You know, And so I'm trying I want that because
the other thing was I was so terrified of my
mom I wouldn't come tell her anything. So I don't
want that either. It's a it's a constant thing. I
talk about this now in therapy of how I want
to be and how I want to be for him.
And you know, Philly is always here, like you could
take our handy, but you can't take the I mean, yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:01:00):
I was like, does he here it is? I need
him to hear it sometime to know.

Speaker 6 (01:01:03):
We don't play that game at Tall. We're not having it.
We're not having it. And I'm still scared of my mom.
I'm forty five. Donlay games.

Speaker 3 (01:01:12):
Yeah, don't play no game your mama Tall.

Speaker 4 (01:01:16):
So I was scared of her too.

Speaker 6 (01:01:17):
You know what I'm saying. She five nine.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
Okay, what I really admire about your journey is you
allowing loving in a way, because I think it's major
if you leave your home base to start all over again,
far away from which you came. And probably one of

(01:01:40):
my biggest faults is a lot of decisions I make
are based on.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
Other people.

Speaker 2 (01:01:48):
In other words, like I would like to move that
D D D D, but now I can't because I
got to be here with da da da da, I
got to be in proximity of It's almost like I
put myself eighth or nine life on the list.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
How easy or hard was it to really make this
decision where you're.

Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Walking away actively recording, walking away from uh, from the talk,
from acting, all those things to find love, to put
your family first, to that sort of thing and put
your family first. Like I really want to ask you,
what is that like?

Speaker 4 (01:02:31):
Because it took me.

Speaker 6 (01:02:34):
A long time to respect my feelings, to respect the
things that I really want that actually bring me actual
happiness without feeling guilty, because we can make ourselves feel
so fucking guilty about things. And I would say being
in the industry breathe that fucking guilt as well, because

(01:02:57):
sometimes you have a manager or an agent or somebody
that's like, you can't say no to this opportunity, Yo,
if you don't do this right here, then we're gonna
fuck up this over here and then this like and
I think, you know, once I kind of drop myself
through and understanding what my anxiety was. Why is this anxiety?
Why am I trying to number myself? Why am I

(01:03:19):
so I got all this shit going on, but I'm
still not very happy. I feel lonely, I'm Why am
I drinking so much? Why am I? All those questions
kind of came down to, like, what is it that
you want?

Speaker 4 (01:03:31):
What do you want? What is it that you want?

Speaker 6 (01:03:35):
That shit's hard, It's still hard.

Speaker 4 (01:03:37):
It's hard, And now that I have a.

Speaker 6 (01:03:38):
Kid, it's even harder to be away. I wish my
mom was around the corner. That shit is hard, you know.
I never thought about it before then because I was
so okay with being like, all right, I'm out, I'm
fucking it, I'm out when it comes to being at
home the Philly, I will say. When it comes to

(01:03:58):
business opportunity, yeah, that definitely took a little bit longer,
but like walking away from the talk, for instance, was
the major decision for that was we had we were
in the midst of that, the whole pandemic. But then
I was getting older and I was like, I want
a kid and I can't have we. I mean, it's

(01:04:19):
just impossible to try to have a kid when I'm
in la most of the time and he's in London
most of the time, and I'm only flying in two
weeks out of the freaking you know, every two weeks.
So that made that decision. While it was hard, because
I actually really enjoyed it was such a crazy thing
to say, Like I talk about this in the book,
I appreciated that opportunity. I needed that opportunity, but it

(01:04:42):
did it served the purpose that.

Speaker 4 (01:04:44):
Is, your voice was needed, like as a person who.

Speaker 6 (01:04:47):
Watched like and it also helped me like it was
the first time that I was I was vocally vulnerable
if you were pay into vulnerability, because I can't sit
at the same poet not really talk about myself and
talk about things that are going on. So I do
think it helped me in a lot of ways and
with issues I had with myself with queens Queens was

(01:05:10):
when I watched it back, it was such a great
It is such a great show, but it was such
a hard shoot. And it was the first time that
I had had I talk about anxiety, like I was
at anxiety master level, Like and I was pregnant and
I was like, you know, here is I going through
all this fertility stuff And I'm like, here is I'm

(01:05:30):
now working my ass off. Am I gonna mess the
situation up? Am I gonna mess the baby? I was
always at the doctor. I was like, it was so
many things going on that I was just like, I
don't want to have this kid and be on a
set for sixteen hours. I'm an older mom, Like I
don't want to miss that shit. I just don't. So
now my driving force of all things are like can

(01:05:53):
I bring him with me if it's gonna be a
while or if I'm only if I'm away it's two
or three days, Like I don't play when it comes
to that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
There was a community of women who watched you and
Queen and knew what you were kind of going through.

Speaker 4 (01:06:04):
And saw you leave. That was like she felt it
like she is of a certain age.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
She is making a fucking decision and she's picking her
joy and we're that's fine.

Speaker 4 (01:06:14):
You felt it.

Speaker 6 (01:06:16):
I had to and I had to put it and
it's hard. But fuck me, man, when am I gonna
do it?

Speaker 4 (01:06:22):
If I ain't gonna do admire you because you did
it like you did it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:31):
For your professional career.

Speaker 2 (01:06:33):
What were like three pinch me moments like oh shit,
this is actually happening like for you. I don't know
if it's meeting someone or or yeah nah.

Speaker 6 (01:06:44):
One is Prince period first point? Like one, I mean,
it's like one number one, but an umbrella of Prince
being that he knew who I was, that I got
to have conversations with him, that I got to be
on stage with him and perform with him, that I
got to see him so Prince the Grammy, of course

(01:07:07):
for my mom to see, because that was a big
deal for me, that my mom got to see that
I'm gonna be all right because I was like great
in school and none of yeah, three, I don't know,
you know. Three. It's hard to just pick a few
because I do feel that I've been so I am

(01:07:30):
so grateful and so I won't say so I love
I like the word lucky, but I don't like that
word lucky, because I do believe Lucky's a good.

Speaker 4 (01:07:44):
Word is blessed.

Speaker 6 (01:07:46):
It's like a nice Yes, I've been super blessed career.
How I mean ship, I'm on a single right now
with sha Ka Khan and see it and it's called
so like. I'm still having moments like when the fuck
would I ever think that I'd be on a song
with kun like I mean now, if I get to

(01:08:08):
meet her and do the song in person as I'm
putting this in the universe, even just to meet her,
I don't even care. I just want to sit and
talk to her. I've met her before, but I'm not
like sat and spoke spoken with her.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
So that would be you and her, damn near the
same person and on the same journey and the same
I absolutely encourage it. Yes, she's been on the show, Yes,
meditating her Crystal room right now.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
I bet I.

Speaker 6 (01:08:32):
Remember I said, Kathy, like, bro, she came up on
my f y p like and meditate.

Speaker 4 (01:08:39):
I didn't know she was on her meditation John that
that's good for her.

Speaker 6 (01:08:44):
Yes, and it was a beautiful like was it a
new moon? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (01:08:48):
Yeah it was. The lion was the lion The Lion's
Gate one of them three weeks ago, right, Yes, yeah,
I saw it.

Speaker 6 (01:08:56):
Because me and Kathy loved the woo woo, so we
were very excited about that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:59):
It was a she gave I mean, she gave me
Crystal and I it's somewhere? Is it somewhere?

Speaker 4 (01:09:10):
I don't want to act again.

Speaker 6 (01:09:13):
Yes, if the yes, yes, I will say yes. But
also create. I want to be on the more creative
side directing well, if not directing, definitely except producing and
create and creating me and Kathy.

Speaker 4 (01:09:31):
So are you okay?

Speaker 6 (01:09:33):
Okay, exciting things, but yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (01:09:36):
Was going to say, what does creativity mean for you now?
Like is there a season as in, like, okay, the summer.
I'll do eight weeks devoted to you because I know
you get a lot of offers.

Speaker 1 (01:09:48):
Can you do this? Can you do this? Can you
do this?

Speaker 6 (01:09:50):
And it has to be I am still figuring it out.
I need to be more creative.

Speaker 4 (01:09:56):
I'm not.

Speaker 6 (01:09:57):
I don't write as much as I used to. I
think i'm project for project, which is fine, but I
don't I'm not doing anything that's serving my soul. M okay,
I need to do a bit more of that and
that is my next hope, that's what I want to
get into. I'm not doing anything that's serving that part daily.

(01:10:19):
If that makes sense or more consistent.

Speaker 4 (01:10:22):
Yeah, I'll look forward to it, whatever it is.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
Whatever I was about to say.

Speaker 2 (01:10:26):
Now that you live in London, I wish you would
cross paths with the this cat named Inflow, who he
is the one Inflow is the only person that makes
like when he comes to La Jimmy jam and Terry
Lewis asked to be his interns. Like Inflow of course

(01:10:47):
is the brainchild behind the group Salt.

Speaker 4 (01:10:50):
Oh they're awesome Jesus.

Speaker 1 (01:10:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:10:52):
But also like for me, one of my favorite MC's
right now is London MS Little Sims.

Speaker 6 (01:10:58):
Little Sims.

Speaker 1 (01:11:00):
Right, she's just out of my mind.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
Of course, his wife is clear soul and everything like
right now just the epicenter of the creativity that gives
me Goosebomum lives in London right now.

Speaker 1 (01:11:11):
So I agree with that. Hopefully you guys don't crosspaths
you and Little Sims together, Jesus, I would love that.

Speaker 6 (01:11:22):
I saw her last year actually at the Brits on
the red carpet and I was like, she's so dope.

Speaker 2 (01:11:30):
How is it when people geek out on you the
same way that you were geek out on Little Kim
or whatever.

Speaker 4 (01:11:37):
It is funny.

Speaker 6 (01:11:38):
It's really funny because what's funny out here too is
like people be like, wait, you fucking live here? You
know how that British.

Speaker 1 (01:11:48):
Are they still to register that?

Speaker 6 (01:11:50):
Know some people because I keep it, I'm chill, like
it's home. So like if people see me out or
like where I live. I live close to like Portobellos,
so like a global road. Anybody knows about London, like
you know, the Rostas be or the Jamaicans bee like
you know, it's like because they now have seen me

(01:12:10):
in the neighborhood so much. Like but yeah, like it's
all I love it. I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:12:17):
It's been before you get off this call, somebody asked me.
I have to ask you, hip hop wise, is anybody
moving you these days?

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
Then be nobody.

Speaker 6 (01:12:28):
I feel back the music I'm listening to, Like the
things I listen to is not hip hop.

Speaker 4 (01:12:32):
That's okay, give it to us because I go back to.

Speaker 6 (01:12:36):
Like Kendrick, I go back to like I listened Nipsy.
If I want a little hip hop rush, like I
go listen to the other stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:12:45):
But I I listened to.

Speaker 6 (01:12:49):
I listened to a lot of I'm a piano, I'm
a piano afrobeats. Oh my god, I mean Ray I
murdered that album. Ray is a British artist here who
is so insane.

Speaker 4 (01:13:04):
Shaking and agrees. Okay, let me raise album. All right.

Speaker 6 (01:13:09):
It's an ARM B you know what.

Speaker 1 (01:13:10):
I love it.

Speaker 6 (01:13:11):
I'm gonna tell you it's an ARM and B soul.
She mixed a lot together, but lyrically it's a hip
hop album. You agree with that Kathy like lyrics.

Speaker 1 (01:13:20):
It's like, oh absolutely, she came to snl uh last
year and like destroyed us.

Speaker 6 (01:13:29):
So she I murdered that? And then what else am
I listening to? I mean I listened to a lot
of softful geo chill music meditation to keep my anxiety down.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
You know what?

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
All right, when this is over, even Kathy whatever, give
me your and don't get mad like and I promise
I'll put you on the subscription list.

Speaker 1 (01:13:55):
I all right, stop with.

Speaker 5 (01:13:57):
The you gonna put it on the you're getting the
coveted uh, you're getting.

Speaker 1 (01:14:02):
Your I do this monthly for people, all right, I.

Speaker 6 (01:14:09):
Will add you like we're together we're together.

Speaker 1 (01:14:12):
Yes, yes, I'll put the R thread into the list.
I got a little bit. Please wait, you know some
way this one question I've been dying to ask you.

Speaker 2 (01:14:30):
So, what happens when you have a catalog is rich
and it's varied, But somehow when history, when the smoke clears,
and all the hits and all the achievements are done,
what happens when someone picks the most unlikely song to
define your career? For birth, Win and Fire its September

(01:14:52):
for runm C. It's tricky. It was weird of all
the iconic songs from Run DMC. For some reason, it's
true has managed to outlast everything. I believe, more than
any even blow your mind or who's that? For some reason,

(01:15:13):
tambourine using tambourine is refusing to go away. It's actually
it's still. It is still in my playlist like I've
not dropped it. I love that in my sort of default,
like my twenty to thirty songs that will always be

(01:15:35):
in inm I join, I love that.

Speaker 1 (01:15:38):
Thirty years ago, if I were to play the.

Speaker 2 (01:15:40):
Intro to Troy by Peter Rock and Seal Smooth the
place like you've hear the ones.

Speaker 1 (01:15:51):
For some reason, the screams for tambourine gets louder by
the year. Is there something I don't know? Did it
become a TikTok sensation?

Speaker 5 (01:16:00):
Like?

Speaker 1 (01:16:00):
Is there a comeback for tambourine that I don't know about?

Speaker 5 (01:16:03):
Because it's the song of Peloton, I don't know it's
the Peloton song.

Speaker 6 (01:16:12):
I forgot about that. I forgot they did use it
for that.

Speaker 4 (01:16:15):
About that check. Don't forget about that.

Speaker 6 (01:16:17):
No, but I was thinking, Wait what I forgot?

Speaker 4 (01:16:20):
But I did indeed blast blessings as.

Speaker 1 (01:16:26):
A person who has a Peloton ass clothes hanger.

Speaker 6 (01:16:31):
Same same.

Speaker 1 (01:16:34):
They send me a bike if you have to get
on that joint.

Speaker 4 (01:16:37):
Damn not in COVID.

Speaker 1 (01:16:39):
I literally was thinking that Peloton for four years.

Speaker 5 (01:16:42):
Yo.

Speaker 1 (01:16:42):
I'm not sad on it, but every last outfit of
mine just hangs over it. So it's good for that. Yeah. No,
it's a great song, but it's.

Speaker 4 (01:16:57):
A gred bike, don't.

Speaker 1 (01:17:00):
Yes, I love Peloton. By the way, you want to
free pelotime, I just don't.

Speaker 4 (01:17:04):
Want them to take it. You know, I'm just saying
they pay anything, you know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (01:17:08):
I know, but no, no, I'm just saying that for me,
the fact that I get screams on that song. Like
I judge if a song is working if immediately when
it comes on people scream, and I feel like that
song might be.

Speaker 6 (01:17:25):
No. It's funny about that song though, because that's when
I was having kind of like issues at the label,
and they were just like, this song is one They
said it was tupop that urban radio was never gonna
like it, so they didn't put anything behind it. They
didn't work it at all because they immediately were like,
and that song did its own thing, and Urban radio

(01:17:46):
actually took it before any top forty anything and it
just did its own thing. It was a record. They
were like, this is never gonna this is not gonna
take off. Like so that's kind of dope. I'm kind
of not mad.

Speaker 4 (01:17:58):
It was because of that touch of they've been hating
on DC for you it might be actually though.

Speaker 1 (01:18:03):
For real, people don't know about the go go wow.
That's this is our one thing story right right right
right story right? So kat.

Speaker 2 (01:18:15):
Uh you know, Kat, and we said this last time
you actually have to come on do a proper show. Yeah,
so I can unlock your storytelling. But just before we
go in your mind, is it like I have to
elevate the story of people that might get forgotten about in.

Speaker 1 (01:18:34):
History, and.

Speaker 5 (01:18:36):
With my collaborators, right outside of the books I read
on my own, I think there's a whole career, a
whole body of work that is completely separate from a book.
So the thing that I said to Eve was like,
where do you want this to go next? Remember? And

(01:18:57):
she said, I don't know. Biopic head talks like all
of those things. So there's a difference between like I
want this book to live on the shelf and then
that becomes the book in addition to the clothing line
or the fragrance line. Some a lot of celebrities, as
you know, view a book as an accessory, right like

(01:19:19):
Eve viewed it as an extension of who she was.
So going into the project, it's with that intent to
reach multiple audiences the way her music has, you know
what I mean, Because it could be that thing. I mean,
we see celebrities all the time, like by my book,
by my book, and then also by my shirt.

Speaker 3 (01:19:39):
But that wasn't like really what this memoir is, especially
since it's so much history, since she's made so much history.
I see the whole ted talk thing, and like, yeah,
this is a guide in a way too.

Speaker 5 (01:19:49):
But also there's more books, right, Like, there's more books
to come, like now, it's like.

Speaker 4 (01:19:54):
He's a career author. So it's I think it's very
different from.

Speaker 1 (01:19:57):
Yeah, I.

Speaker 4 (01:20:01):
Look at the part.

Speaker 1 (01:20:02):
Yeah, I was gonna say, are there more stories coming
from me as far as books are concerned.

Speaker 6 (01:20:08):
I think the next thing will Yes, there are more stories,
but more more along the lines of self exploration, exploration
and modalities that I use to help me get to
certain places. If that makes sense.

Speaker 4 (01:20:24):
It sounds like we're using songs in history. Okay, I go, okay, Okay,
I'm trying to put the puzzle again.

Speaker 1 (01:20:29):
There's lots of code talk spread.

Speaker 8 (01:20:35):
For me.

Speaker 2 (01:20:36):
Yeah, for once, I thank you for taking time out
to speak with us. I thank you for your journey
and your conversation and your growth and your book.

Speaker 1 (01:20:46):
Kathy, I thank you, and I'm serious.

Speaker 2 (01:20:49):
Let's let's let's let's give Kathy three thousand, yes, her
own episode and her flowers, so talking about it, we
gotta do this, but no, on the real I'm really
proud of you, and I'm glad that you blessed us
with your art and your gift and I really appreciate

(01:21:12):
and sad to say this like our first real extended
conversation since we've known each other.

Speaker 1 (01:21:18):
It was nice to meet you, Eve, But you know what.

Speaker 6 (01:21:23):
It's okay because it's everything's meant everything as and when,
and this was perfect, perfect time, and I'm grateful and thankful,
so thank you.

Speaker 2 (01:21:32):
I love this version of you prioritizing your your your
mental health and and and your family and and and
yourself first. And you know, uh, everyone out there please
uh support Eve and all of her endeavors.

Speaker 4 (01:21:49):
Who's that girl?

Speaker 1 (01:21:51):
Yes, everywhere.

Speaker 2 (01:21:57):
James, James, James anyway on behalf of Steve and James
and I'm paid Bill and Kaffy and light Ya Kat
and He. Thank you very much this Quest Love. We
will see you on the next go round.

Speaker 1 (01:22:13):
You know, see you.

Speaker 8 (01:22:17):
Thank you for listening to Quest Love Supreme. This podcast
is hosted by Mere quest Love, Thompson, Liah Saint Clair Sugar,
Steve Mandela, myself, unpaid Phil Schirman. The executive producers are
Mere just walking into the goddamn room Thompson, Sean g
and Brian Calhoun. Produced by Brittany Benjamin, Jake Payne and
Liah Sinclair, edited by Alex Conroy I Know Alex Conwen.

(01:22:39):
Produced for iHeart by Noel Brown.

Speaker 1 (01:22:51):
Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeart Radio. For
more podcasts or iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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Episode Transcript

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Laiya St. Clair

Questlove

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