Eve Says, Nicki Minaj Is Not “Representing For Every Female”

While Eve gives credit to Minaj, she says that hip-hop needs more than one voice speaking for women.

“Even though Nicki is representing for females period, she’s not representing for every female. She’s a specific type of entertainer,” Eve said.

“There are a lot of different kind of men out there representing for the males, and you need a lot of different females that represent for the different kinds of females,” she added.

Eve says one voice that is certainly missing is Lauryn Hill’s: “She was our female consciousness. She was our most positive voice and we need that back.”

Hill, who first appeared with The Fugees alongside Wyclef Jean and Pras, has only released one studio album, but is arguably still hip-hop’s most celebrated female lyricist. Her 1998 solo debut, “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,” won five Grammys and has sold eight million copies. In a recent interview with NPR, Hill says if she does release new music it will feature more singing than rapping.

Like Eve, it has also been some time since Elliott released new music; her rep says her new CD will be out next year. In the late 1990s and for much of the new millennium’s first decade, the rapper-singer-producer was a multiplatinum powerhouse with her theatrical, fun style, which Minaj borrows from. The now-defunct best female rap solo performance Grammy Award, presented in 2003 and 2004, both went to Elliott.

Bill Freimuth, the vice president of awards at The Recording Academy, says the category was eliminated because “it wasn’t enough competition essentially, due to the lack of the number of releases in that category.”

While that award no longer exists, Minaj’s already received industry praises: She won the best new artist and best female hip-hop artist trophies at this year’s BET Awards and she’s up for best new artist at the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards.

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