It has been almost 20 years since Grammy Award winning recording artist Eve dropped her debut album.

In 1999, Eve made significant impact in Hip Hop under the Ruff Ryders label founded by her brothers Joaquin, Darin Dean, and sister Chivon (the uncles and aunt of Grammy Award winning producer Swizz Beatz).

Today, the Philadelphia native is touring with the RnB Friday’s Live Tour, celebrating her 40th birthday last Saturday (November 10th) during the Melbourne leg of the tour.

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During her visit she sat down with 10 Daily to discuss life at 40, her transition into becoming a talk show host, and her experience on tour.

On her debut album, Eve showed the world what differentiated her from other recording artists.

“While there were other females [at that time] who wanted to be naked, I never wanted to be that. If anything, they tried to cover me up as much as they could,” she said.

“They were also open to my ideas and we had great conversations. As long as it was a real situation I was [song] writing about, they were open to it.”

This open relationship showed on her first album with tracks such as “Love is a Blind”, a song Eve wrote at 16, depicting her 17-year-old best friend’s relationship with a 35-year old man whom she fell pregnant too. In the song she discussed domestic violence, a topic now being regularly discussed in hip-hop culture but not as much in 1999.

“When I put that song out, I didn’t even understand what domestic violence was. Honestly. As I got older, people would tell me how the song saved them or they’d played it for a friend who would then go and get help,”

On average, one woman is murdered per week by their current or former partner in Australia, with violence against women accounting for 61 women’s deaths in 2018.

When Eve was told of these statistics – she was stunned.

“That is truly scary, those kind of numbers in a country like this.”

Our hearts go out to all families and individuals affected by domestic violence. All women should be able to live safely, free from all forms of men’s abuse. We urge everyone to stand up and speak out to end all forms of men’s violence against women.