Eve may have become the Ruff Ryders' First Lady, but before that, she was working with Dr. Dre while signed to his Aftermath label. Now, the artist is opening up about being dropped from the label not long after Eminem was also signed by the music mogul.
During BET's Ruff Ryders Chronicles series, Eve recalled that after being dropped from the label in 1998, she felt "devastated." She explained, "I remember when I was working with Dre that Eminem did get signed. So, I would literally show up to studio sessions that I wasn't supposed to be at, where I knew Dre was gonna be, and be like, 'So, when am I recording? When are you going to put me on a song? What's going on?' I think he got sick of that, and then I got dropped eight months later."
Eve then added, "It wasn't too long after Eminem was signed [that] I got dropped from Aftermath, and I was devastated."
Despite her devastation, Eve moved back home, and explained that the entire experience was humbling for her. She recalled, "I had to go back home, I had to go back to my mom's house, I had to get back on the bus. All these people [that] came to my going away party are now like, 'Oh, so you're back. That was fast.' So, it humbled me."
Following her Aftermath departure, Eve went on to release her debut album, Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady, the following year via Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Interscope Records.
After that, Eve's career flourished as she released three more full-length albums, several chart-topping collaborations, won a Grammy Award, and appeared in a long list of films and TV series, including Barbershop, Barbershop 2: Back in Business and Barbershop: The Next Cut.
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