Since marriage and a move to London, England, it’s been a minute since Hip Hop star and actress Eve has been stateside to discuss her creative endeavors both cinematically and musically. Looking as fly as ever to promote her new movie, “Barbershop: The Next Cut,” Eve was on hand in Los Angeles, California to discuss acting opposite new co-stars Common and Nicki Minaj, as well as reuniting with all of usual “Barbershop” suspects like Ice Cube, Cedric The Entertainer and more in a one on one conversation with All Hip Hop’s Kylie Krabbe:
Living in Europe do you think you have a different perspective on the political issues here right now? You see it completely differently I think than being in it here. Seeing it being over there I’m kinda like, c’mon America. We just look crazy that we are allowing the show to go on with homeboy, cause he’s crazy.
Who would you be talking about? Just a certain blondish craziness.
With a comb over and rhymes with frump? Yes. It’s funny to watch it on that side and uh, yeah, It’s crazy. I mean it’s crazy here too obviously, but to see it from the point of view of Brits watching Americans go through it, it’s crazy.
Do you ever feel as if you have to answer to Brits as an American with regards to what is going on here politically? No, but sometimes I feel bad. I’m like, ‘it’s not my fault,’ because I’ve had people say to me, ‘why do you all let this happen?’ It’s not ya’ll. It’s not me. So I don’t feel like I have to answer, but I do feel like people will look at me like you’re American, so you know what’s happening – but I don’t.
How would you encapsulate your evolution from a ‘pitbull in a skirt’ to now? You have had so many faces along the way. I’ve always called myself a chameleon. Since I was little I’ve felt like I was a chameleon or a shape shifter or like I’ve always been able to be in certain situations. From a young age my mother had me in many different circles…she was a young mom. She had me at seventeen but I never felt throughout my life, even though she was a single mom working and going to school, I never felt like I needed for anything. She would take me to her jobs where she worked with white people or whoever else outside of our community because we grew up in the projects… So I think from a young age I’ve just been able to adapt… We all have to change as we go through certain things in life as you get to a certain age, especially as women. We are always figuring out how to be better, I feel like. So, yeah I don’t know. It has been a lot of faces though.
There is a whole dynamic in “Barbershop” with you and Common playing husband and wife, centering around women who are in relationships and doing very well professionally in love with men who aren’t doing as quite well professionally. Could you relate to that at all? Absolutely. I mean, I’ve been in relationships in the past where I was the one making it happen and that person wasn’t. It caused arguments because even though I was like this is ours and this is our house, car, whatever, as a man men feel like they need to provide. It’s a hard thing I think for most men to kind of sit back and not be the breadwinner. But yes, I’ve been there. I’ve definitely been there. It wasn’t as civil as the relationship in the movie… But then sometimes something happens to someone’s job or someone’s money or whatever and I think that’s being in a relationship. Being a grownup is being able to say, if you really love someone, I’m there. Let’s make it happen, let’s figure it out. That’s the grownup approach.
You’ve been involved in a lot of projects. You had your own television show, you’ve done music – what made this experience on “Barbershop: The Next Cut” special for you? It made it special because it was coming back to see Cube (Ice Cube) and Cedric (Cedric The Entertainer) and people that I already did this movie with before, but also with the new people – the new fresh faces. Also the script was so good. Honestly, I would not have agreed to do it if the script wasn’t good. Immediately as soon as I read it, I loved it. So yeah, it was exciting and to revisit the franchise in a way. For me, when I did the first two, I was at a different place in my career, and as a person, and as a woman. Being able to come back to it as this person, as a mature woman and you see that in the evolution of the character as well was great.
People have really missed you on the music scene. Yes. New things are happening.
Why the wait and all of this time between albums? I put out an album independently because now I’m independent. I own my own label. I put out an album about three and a half years ago on my own. And that was a small project.
Was that a difficult learning curve for you? Oh my God! So hard. I grew up in a machine. I didn’t know how much work it took. You know, you take for granted those people who have those offices – one’s marketing, one’s promotion, one’s this and all of the sudden, I’m having all of those meetings with my small staff and that s### was hard. It’s hard! But rewarding, because I felt that that was something that I needed to do. And then, I needed to be inspired again. After that situation, I kind of needed a minute. And then I got married and then I moved to a new country. You know, I needed to settle again and find my footing. Now I feel secure in where I live. I do call London home and so I feel like I’m back to me – if that makes sense.
What’s the inspiration for this new music? Where are you drawing it from? Because like you were saying, you’re a very different person now. I think sound wise, my ear is a bit different just because I live in London and I hear so many things. Music in London is so eclectic. So I think my ear is a bit different, so I’ll be looking for different sounds. But lyrically, I’m a lyricist. That’s who I am and what I’ve always been. So lyrically I think – not think I know people will know, ‘oh that’s my girl,’ but musically it might be a little different.
So then what will you be talking about as a part of this most recent lyrical evolution? Can you give us a little hint or a taste? I don’t know yet. I honestly don’t know. You’ll have to see.
“Barbershop: The Next Cut,” from Warner Bros. Pictures opens nationwide in theaters on April 15, 2016.