![\"EVE-Issue-No26\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/EVE-Issue-No26.jpg\")
EVE<\/b><\/h1>\nEVE<\/b><\/h1>\nAfter a decade of changes, the rapper turns up the intensity on a new set<\/b><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/b>In the 11 years since her last album, Eve has been rather busy. She released singles, made guest appearances on more than a dozen tracks for other artists, had her own sitcom, appeared in the two Barbershop<\/i> films, and launched a fashion line. But Lip Lock<\/i>, her long-awaited\u00a0return, wasn\u2019t a snap decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a bit of journey. I\u2019ve been trying to put out a record for two years,\u201d says Eve, who was born Eve Jeffers. \u201cIn those two years, I changed management, lawyers, even labels. It took a while for me to find the right relationship after leaving Interscope.\u201d In the end, the right relationship was to release the album on her own label, From the Rib.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old rapper started out with hip-hop collective Ruff Ryders in the late 1990s. Her first album was well received, but it was the single from the follow-up Scorpion<\/i>, \u201cLet Me Blow Ya Mind\u201d\u2014her collaboration with Gwen Stefani\u2014that won her platinum sales and a Grammy in 2002.<\/p>\n
Lip Lock<\/i>, however, features heavier beats and a more intense tone than her earlier albums. \u201cA lot of the tracks are in-your-face,\u201d she says. \u201cI don\u2019t think it was preconceived, it was just me picking whatever sounded right. I worked with a lot of different producers, so I picked tracks that would complement each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Producers on Lip Lock<\/i> include Claude Kelly, Salaam Remi and longtime collaborator Swizz Beats. Selecting a producer is a critical first step in Eve\u2019s songwriting process. \u201cI usually sit with the producer before we even go in the studio,\u201d she says. \u201cOnce we\u2019re in the studio you go back and forth about the vibe, listen to tracks, and it goes from there. I always like being in the room with at least the producer. I think it makes for a better song.\u201d Lip Lock <\/i>features guest appearances from such hip-hop luminaries as Snoop Dogg and Missy Elliott, and vocals from Cobra Starship\u2019s Gabe Saporta on the lead single, \u201cMake It Out This Town\u201d echo the crossover appeal of her earlier work.<\/p>\n
For Eve, Lip Lock <\/i>isn\u2019t just her return to music, but a new way of making and releasing music. \u201cI\u2019ve been calling this my record,\u201d she says, \u201cbecause I come from Ruff Ryders, and there were so many people in the room. For me, this is definitely intimate.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Amanda Farah<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EVE After a decade of changes, the rapper turns up the intensity on a new set \u00a0In the 11 years since her last album, Eve has been rather busy. She released singles, made guest appearances on more than a dozen tracks for other artists, had her own sitcom, appeared in the two Barbershop films, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[6616,6620,6622,6623,6372,6619,6615,6624,5760,6617,6618,6621,10156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9927"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9929,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9927\/revisions\/9929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}