The hip-hop legend revisited the look and sound of her chart-topping days for her new ABC drama.
How Eve Brought Early 2000s Swagger to the Small Screen for Queens
BC’s newest soapy drama, Queens is a case study in smart casting. The series follows the members of a fictional early 2000s girl group, Nasty Bitches, as they attempt a comeback, and each band member is played by someone who navigated fame and Hollywood in that era. Eve stars alongside Naturi Naughton, Brandy, and Nadine Valesquez. The realities of juggling real life and a public persona were all too relatable for Eve, the hip-hop-icon-turned-actress who stars as Brianna, aka Professor Sex, a powerhouse rap star who becomes a suburban housewife. “That era was our time,” shared Eve on the phone from Los Angeles. “Brandy, Naturi, Nadine, and I all came into the industry during the late ’90s and early 2000s, so it’s just been fun going back because we know so much about the [decade] and what it was like to be a performer then.”
As anyone who listened to hip hop in the 2000s can attest, Eve was at the center of the music industry during one of its most exciting and tumultuous eras. The woman behind hits like “What Ya Want” and “Let Me Blow Ya Mind” helped create the tough yet chic archetype still used by fashion-forward rappers like Meghan Thee Stallion and Cardi B. Since then, she’s carved out a varied career that has included everything from serving as a host on The Talk to hosting the podcast ‘Constantly Evolving’ on BBC. Still, after meeting with series creator Zahir McKee, she was eager to join the show. “His energy and enthusiasm were incredible,” she says. “There are slight parallels between Brianna and myself, but ultimately it's a work of fiction and when I read the script, I just fell in love with it and the characters."
This story originally appeared on: Vogue - Author:Janelle Okwodu
