Eve Jihan Jeffers (born November 10, 1978) is an American Grammy Award winning rapper-songwriter, record producer and actress. Her first three albums have sold over 8 million copies worldwide. She has also achieved success in fashion with her clothing line, Fetish. She is the inaugural winner of the Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2002 for the song "Let Me Blow Ya Mind", with Gwen Stefani. Eve was number 48 on VH1's "50 Greatest Women Of The Video Era" list.
As an actress, Eve is best known for her roles as Terri Jones in the films Barbershop and Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and as Shelley Williams on the UPN television sitcom Eve.
Eve was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Julie Wilch, a publishing company supervisor, and Jerry Jeffers, a chemical plant supervisor. She adopted the name Gangsta in high school as part of an all-female group called EDGP (pronounced "Egypt")
During her early years in Philadelphia, she was educated at Martin Luther King High School. Eve's first musical interest was singing. She sang in many choirs and even formed an all-female singing group (Dope Girl Posse or D.G.P.) with a manager. This group covered songs from En Vogue and Color Me Badd. The group's manager suggested that the group should rap after seeing ABC, and Eve stuck with it. She then went on to form a rapping group. After the group split, Eve began working on a solo career under the name "Eve of Destruction." Eve has lived in Los Angeles, New York City, and most recently has resided in London.
In 1999, she was featured on Prince's album Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic, and she was to co-star on the eventually cancelled Hot Wit' U single from that same album. Eve is featured (along with Erykah Badu) on the song "You Got Me" by The Roots, from their 1999 album Things Fall Apart. The song won a Grammy Award in 2000, which should have been Eve's first. She stated on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2009 that she did not receive a Grammy for the track. Questlove, from The Roots, had brought his Grammy to the show that night and showed she's not even credited on the award plaque. She also provided background vocals on the song "Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New" from the same album. In the album's liner notes, she is referred to as Eve of Destruction.