Eve has always been a little different. The Philly native burst onto the scene in the late 90s as the only female in the Ruff Ryders camp, offering a feminine perspective that was both hard-edged and sultry. At the time, the most prominent women in Hip Hop were Lil Kim, who was hard-edged sex appeal, Foxy Brown, with her sleek and crafty sexuality, and Lauryn Hill, whose debut leaned heavily into soul music as she pontificated on love in its meany forms. When Eve dropped her double platinum debut in 1999, Let There Be Eve…Ruff Ryders’ First Lady, she was solidly in her own lane, falling into her “it-girl” demeanor with ease, backed up by cocky, round-the-way girl lyrics that complimented early Swizz Beatz production. 

But it was her Grammy-winning sophomore album, 2001’s Scorpion that pushed her to mainstream stardom when she reconnected with Dr. Dre and formed a friendship with Gwen Stefani that resulted in the mega-hit “Let Me Blow Your Mind.”  Throughout the years, Eve’s charisma has landed her a self-titled sitcom (Eve which ran for three season on UPN), movie roles, including The Barbershop franchise, a gig on daytime TV (she co-hosted The Talk on CBS for three years), and most recently, a starring role on ABC’s Queens. 

Quietly, she’s one of the most successful artists in Hip Hop, charting a career path similar to Common, Ice Cube, and Queen Latifah, and she continues to add to her legacy. These are her 25 dopest songs.