Ruff Ryders First Lady

09/14/1999 3:00 AM, LAUNCH
Billy Johnson Jr

The hip-hop market may currently be flooded with more female MCs than ever before, but Eve is clearly among the elite. Group her with the likes of MC Lyte and Lady Of Rage, who've managed to gain respect without exploiting their sexuality or relying on looks.

Her 14-song debut, Let There Be Eve..., is filled with examples of her incontestable lyrical skills that shine even when next to her Ruff Ryder brethren DMX, the LOX, or Drag-on. Most impressive is her ability to rhyme over the bumpy, erratic tracks from resident producer Swizz Beat, who manages to keep her album as gritty as he's done on work for DMX and Jay-Z.

While braggadocios offerings "Maniac," "Dog Match" featuring DMX and "Let's Talk About" featuring Drag-on are infectious, Eve speaks her loudest on the album's most important records, "Love Is Blind" and "Heaven Only Knows," mellower tracks that deal with domestic violence and shocking, true accounts of her own life, respectively.

At just 20 years old, Eve's emergence onto the hip-hop scene with collabs with the Roots, BLACKstreet, and the Ruff Ryders sets her up perfectly, leaving room for growth without pigeonholing herself.