Eve Jihan Jeffers was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Julie Wilcher, a publishing company supervisor and Jerry Jeffers, a chemical plant supervisor.^[1] Eve lived in West Philadelphia until age 13 when her family moved to the neighborhood of Germantown.^[2] She graduated from Martin Luther King High School in Philadelphia.^[2]

At the age of 18, she worked as a stripper until rapper Mase convinced her to quit.^[3][4] In 1999, Eve discussed stripping in an interview with Rolling Stone, saying "that was a hustle, too; there's a song about it on my album, 'Heaven Only Knows.' But I don't regret it – I was eighteen and confused, going through personal problems. I did it for about a month, and I was glad I did it. It helped me find Eve, helped me get serious. It was depressing – a lot of those girls have three or four kids. I'd sit there and be like, 'Eve, you don't belong here, this is not your world.'"^[5]

Eve's first musical interest was singing. She sang in many choirs and even formed an all-female singing group (Dope Girl Posse or EDGP) with a manager.^[6] This group covered songs from En Vogue and Color Me Badd. The group's manager suggested that they should start rapping, and Eve stuck with it. After the group split up, Eve began working on a solo career under the name "Eve of Destruction".^[6]

In 1998, Eve appeared on the Bulworthsoundtrack as Eve of Destruction while signed to Dr. Dre's record label Aftermath Entertainment. She appeared on DMX's song "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" (Remix) from his album It's Dark and Hell Is Hot and The Roots' single "You Got Me" from the band's fourth album Things Fall Apart.^[7] Eve also provided background vocals on The Roots' song "Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New" from Things Fall Apart and is credited as Eve of Destruction. Eve's first single, "What Y'all Want", featuring Nokio the N-Tity of Dru Hill, was released in June 1999.^[8]The song peaked at number 29 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and at number one on the Hot Rap Songs chart. "What Ya'll Want" was included on the compilation album Ryde or Die Vol. 1 (1999).^[9]

Her debut album called Let There Be Eve...Ruff Ryders' First Lady was released on September 14, 1999, by Ruff Ryders Entertainment and Interscope Records.^[9][2] It sold 213,000 copies in the first week. The album has sold over 2 million copies (according to SoundScan) and is certified Double Platinum. The album features singles such as "Gotta Man" and "Love Is Blind".^[9] "Love Is Blind" was written when she was 16 and based on her 17-year-old best friend's relationship with a 35-year-old abusive man by whom she became pregnant.^[10] All of the songs on the album were written by Eve herself.^[11]

Eve became the third female hip-hop artist to have her album peak at number one on the Billboard 200, Lauryn Hill's debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, being the first to top the chart in 1998 and Foxy Brown's second album, Chyna Doll achieving the feat earlier in 1999. In November 1999, Eve was featured on Missy Elliott's single "Hot Boyz (Remix)" along with Nas, Lil Mo, and Q-Tip.^[11] The remix broke the record for most weeks at number-one on the US R&B chart on the issue dated January 15, 2000; as well as spending 18 weeks at number one on the Hot Rap Singles from December 4, 1999, to March 25, 2000.^[11]

Eve does not like being referred to as a "Pop Princess". Her second studio album Scorpion, was released on March 6, 2001. She appeared on the cover of Jet magazine, which referred to her as the "Queen of Rap".^[12] The album's first single, "Who's That Girl" peaked at number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number six in the United Kingdom.^[13] It was also number 97 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. The second single, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" with Gwen Stefani of No Doubt, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the US Mainstream Top 40 chart.^[9] It won a Grammy Award in 2002 for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, which was a brand new category at the time. The song was listed at number seven on the 2001 Pazz & Jop list, a survey of several hundred music critics conducted by Robert Christgau.^[14][15] A remix of "Love Is Blind" featuring singer Faith Evans also appeared on the album. In 2001, Eve won the BET Award for Best Female Hip-Hop Artist.^[16] In November 2001, she appeared as a contestant on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won $32,000 for her charity.^[17]

Eve's third album, Eve-Olution, was released by Ruff Ryders Entertainment on August 27, 2002, and peaked at number six on the Billboard 200. The album's first single, "Gangsta Lovin'", with Alicia Keys, became her second consecutive number-two hit on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as her third consecutive top ten hit in the United Kingdom. The second single, "Satisfaction" was moderately successful in the United States, reaching number 27 and 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Eve-Olutionhas sold over 500,000 copies in the U.S. and was certified gold in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). 

In 2002, Eve appeared on the remixed version of Michael Jackson's "Butterflies". She appeared in the action film XXX (2002) and all three Barbershop films (Barbershop, Barbershop 2: Back in Business, and Barbershop: The Next Cut). In 2003, Eve starred as a fashion designer called Shelly Williams in the television sitcom, Eve.^[18]The show followed two sets of male and female friends attempting to navigate relationships with the opposite sex.^[18] The show aired for three seasons on UPN from September 15, 2003, to May 11, 2006.^[18] Eve guest starred as Yvette Powell in an episode of NBC's crime drama television series Third Watch. In 2004, she appeared in two films, The Woodsman and The Cookout.^[19]