The Ruff Ryders Chronicles series has given hip hop fans an inside look at one of the genre’s most celebrated collectives, including the rise of their First Lady, E-V-E. The Philadelphia rapper is a rags to riches story as she started with dreams of being the next big rap star while working as an exotic dancer in a strip club. Unexpectedly, Eve received the opportunity to fly to Los Angeles to record her demo, and later, the tape ended up in the hands of Dr. Dre. Soon, she inked a deal with the Aftermath mogul and worked with him in the studio, but their working relationship came to a screeching halt without warning.

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“I remember that when I was working with Dre, Eminem did get signed,” said Eve. “I would literally show up to studio sessions that I wasn’t supposed to be at where I knew Dre was gonna be and be like, ‘So, when am I recording? When are you gonna put me in a song? What’s going on?’ I think he got sick of that and then I got dropped eight months later… I was devastated.”

Eve returned home to her mother’s house with her tail between her legs, but unbeknownst to her, her manager was working out a possible deal with Ruff Ryders. The rest is, as they say, history, and the partnership with the New York collective ended up launching Eve’s career into new heights and helped to eventually earn the rapper a Grammy. Check out a clip of the episode below.

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