'Who's That Girl?' book review: From violin player to millionaire rapper, mom and wife Eve
Living in London but 'Philly, Philly' is where she is from
There are a handful of artists who I expect to like whatever they put out. I pre-ordered Eve’s book “Who’s That Girl?” as soon as I found out she had one. I didn’t need to read one single page to buy it.
I have written several articles complaining about my first two years of college, but it wasn’t all bad. One of the highlights at that first university was me and one of my closest college friends memorizing and rapping just about every word of “Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady.”
Although my friend was from an Illinois suburb and I was born and raised in the city, you would’ve sworn we were both from Philadelphia, judging from our reaction to the opening beat of “Philly Philly.”
(Unrelated but funny note: We would see each other on opposite sides of campus and yell out, “Is that the illest girl in Chicago?” Watch “Belly,” and you’ll understand the joke.)
The only person who could compete with our fandom for Eve was my older brother’s friend (and upstairs neighbor). With a physique that pretty much mirrored The Rock, he would bust out into a smooth two-step whenever he heard “What Ya Want?” at weddings, backyard BBQs and even when a car drove by blasting it.
For us, and from 1999 to the early 2000s, Eve was that girl. Missy Elliott was probably the only other femcee who could convince me to stop playing Eve long enough to hear whatever her new song was. And Left Eye showed out in her collaboration with Chicago’s finest Donell Jones on “U Know What’s Up?” so I was in music heaven. Then, Eve took her career a step further with a fashion line (Fetish) and her own TV show. Good times!
I expected to relive my college days while reading “Who’s That Girl?” — and that I did. I also learned quite a bit of new info in between what fans already knew. The rapper spoke about her upbringing in Philadelphia, complicated relationship with father figures, how her childhood influenced her interest in acting and rapping, her short-lived violin lessons as a kid, her early battle rapper days with all men, her complex business relationship with Dr. Dre during the Eminem days, what she learned (and bumped heads about) from Jay Z, her friendship and respect for Swizz Beatz, her entertaining camaraderie with DMX, and what it was like on the set of “Barbershop” and “Queens.”
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Although I couldn’t get into Bush-supporting Sheryl Underwood or (for a number of reasons) Sharon Osbourne enough to watch “The Talk,” I did follow Eve’s career in acting and independent music. So I was really into hearing what made her go independent (and why Mr. Giggles needed to leave) but pretty indifferent about her time on the talk show.
I was interested in hearing about her time on “Barbershop” and wanted to know why she was giggling so much in blooper scenes with Michael Ealy, but that chapter spent way way way too long harping on Nicki Minaj and not nearly enough on the blue-eyed man. He wasn’t even mentioned. Sigh. (One of the biggest highlights in the book was finding out how she met and married Maximillion Cooper so I still got some good guy gossip out of it.)
I’m guessing if I was a Nicki fan, I would care about those pages. I am not. While I understand the need to address both of them being in “Barbershop 3: The Next Cut,” the parts about therapy, hugs, who was placed where on the movie promo poster and men pitting women against each other could’ve been summed up in one paragraph. People dedicate too much energy to Nicki Minaj. I don’t. Never have. Never will. Definitely a talented lyricist, but I tend to like artists who give off MC Lyte-era energy, less mean girl.
Recommended Read: “Please stop gaslighting femcees with sisterhood questions ~ Drake releases "Push Ups" and no hip hop analysts are asking "Why don't men get along?"
There were a few other parts of the book — the sex tape, the stripping pics — that Eve talked about and I completely forgot happened. MySpace was founded the summer after I graduated from college and Facebook released a few months later. In my college days, rambling about celebrity gossip didn’t have the extra social media sting. Plus, Eve being a real-life stripper made as much sense to me as Regina Hall playing a stripper in “The Best Man.” I could not take it seriously and laughed the whole time. Eve self-describing as a “lazy stripper” sounds accurate.
If this had happened now, I could see why it’d be a big deal. In the early 2000s, we were kicking down doors after getting kicked out of someone’s Top 8 instead.
But even if I watched “The Talk” when the stripping and video topic resurfaced, I wouldn’t have cared. Eve still gives off Lyte-era energy (hard on the outside, girly on the inside) and has always commanded respect like Queen Latifah. I was, however, impressed at how Mace talked her out of her barely-happening new job. Still, I breezed right by that part of the book.
That wasn’t the only time Eve threw her own self under the bus with long-forgotten gossip. She gave specific examples of clashes on “The Talk” and elaborated on a couple of nightmare ex-boyfriends (we all know one of them was Stevie J although she did not say his name).
Interestingly, she kept the conflict on “Queens” very private. All readers learned was that the cast members started acting like a real-life group and would be at odds — while Eve was pregnant and (justifiably) paranoid about getting sick on set. By the time she finished talking about ABC’s “Queens,” I was surprised she lasted on the show for the short time period she was on there. But for the rap battle with Brandy alone, it was worth it!
Because the tabloids and paparazzi didn’t seem to be harassing her as drastically as they did with other artists, I was completely unaware of her short-term alcohol addiction or DUI charge. If Sean Penn had actually bailed her out of jail like he wanted to, I probably would’ve remembered more about it. (That story was hilarious.) And there was an equally wild story about her first time meeting Janet Jackson. It seemed like she never met any celebrity (besides Prince) without chaos.
Overall, this was a really good read. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. As a faux Philly jawn and longtime fan, pretty much anything she announces will have my support.
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