Eve has marked the 25th anniversary of her debut album, Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders’ First Lady, with the release of a memoir that offers an unvarnished account of her life in and beyond music. Who’s That Girl? traces her path from rising star to seasoned artist, weaving in moments of triumph, vulnerability, and an unexpected chapter—a brief romance with Suge Knight in 2001.
In the book, highlighted by HipHopDX, Eve writes candidly about the circumstances that led her toward Knight. Tension with Dr. Dre, despite their Grammy-winning collaboration on “Let Me Blow Ya Mind,” lingered beneath the surface. “I was still feeling some type of way about Dre even though we created a solid hit together, so having Suge, his former boss at Death Row, hovering around Interscope felt like a sweet form of revenge. I’m not entirely sure how I came up with this idea, but here we were,” she recalls.
That decision came with consequences. Eve recounts that her connection to Knight complicated her standing with Interscope Records and strained her relationship with its chief executive, Jimmy Iovine. “I feel like he (Jimmy) directed his frustration towards my third album,” she writes, offering a rare window into the tensions between artist and label at the time.
Eve reflects on past choices while reclaiming her story
Closer to home, her Ruff Ryders mentors, Dee and Waah Dean, urged her to step back from Knight altogether. “They strongly opposed the idea of me spending time with Suge. When my team suggested it was time to part ways, I didn’t hesitate,” Eve remembers. Knight himself, she adds, seemed to agree with the decision: “If I was your little sis, I would say the same thing.”
Co-written with hip-hop journalist Kathy Iandoli, Who’s That Girl? charts not only Eve’s rise but also her personal reckoning. Speaking to BET, she explained her decision to write the book: “The topics I cover are things I’ve mentioned before, but I don’t think I’ve delved this deeply. Now that I have a child, I felt it was time to release some past burdens and prepare myself and others for what lies ahead.”
The result is both a memoir and a meditation: a story that captures the turbulence of fame while celebrating resilience. For longtime fans, it fills in the gaps of a storied career; for new readers, it reveals an artist intent on shaping her own legacy.
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