Eve recalls Mase once rejected her lap dance and then listen to her rap before she was signed to Ruff Ryders.
Mase played a rather important role in Eve’s career, as she explained in a new Ruff Ryders Chronicles documentary. Before Eve was the hitmaker that she became, with chart-topping singles, movie credits, and a Grammy Award under her belt, the Philadelphia native was a stripper. She worked in the industry for about a month at the age of 18 — until Mase walked into her club, and everything changed.
BET is airing a docu-series about the Ruff Ryders, and Eve shared how her fateful meeting with the “What You Want” rapper changed her life. According to the First Lady, it was a slow night, and she offered Mase a dance, but he was more interested in her future plans. After first being on the defense, the “Love Is Blind” artist told him that she wanted to be in hip hop.
“I told him I wanna be a rapper, and he was like, ‘Get dressed, let’s go ride around the city and listen to some beats.’ We literally just rolled around the city until the sun came up. He listened to me rap. I never saw him again from that night until I got signed to Ruff Ryder,” she said. The encounter formed a solid friendship, and Mase reportedly came to the studio to support Eve each day while she recorded her debut album, Let There Be Eve… Ruff Ryders’ First Lady.
Her time at Ruff Ryders was pivotal in her career, with the 41-year-old describing how she was made to feel safe by everyone who was a part of the label. “I was the most protected female on the planet at that time,” she shared. “I was Baby Sis, but not like, coddled. Baby Sis in a way that you were gonna protect, she hustles with us.”
