Throughout hip hop's existence, many female rappers have come and went. It's quite hard for them to maintain longevity in what is considered a male dominant field. Today, Nicki Minaj may have re-opened the gates for new femcee's to gain stardom and longtime relevance. But only a few before her have lasted long. One of those is Ruff Ryder's first lady herself, Eve. From the very first time I heard her voice on the Ruff Ryder's Ryde Or Die Vol. 1 album, she instantly became one of my favorite female rappers of all time. Her 1999 debut album Ruff Ryder's First Lady I still say is in the top five hip hop albums by a female rapper. She took a long, very long time off. But now she's back with this. Her fourth album Lip Lock. Now it's been ten years since the last time Eve dropped an album (2002's Eve-olution), so with a gap that huge one would have to think that she could be a little rusty or out of touch. Going that long without recording music can do that to you. Not to mention she's been heavily involved in other things like movies, TV, fashion etc. Well after listening to this I think all of that might be true. This album to me was not so great. Just below average. Not saying that it's trash but I can honestly say of all her albums this is definitely the worst one. This overall just did nothing for me. Eve has most certainly changed over the years and this album proves it. Everything from her voice, her flow, her lyrics and overall song content have all took a drastic change from what we heard a decade ago. The album sound is rather...basic. A lot of generic production and not much topic within the songs. It seems as though she tried for a dance/pop/hip hop sound but it kinda just went bad. I have more negatives with this than positives so that's where I'll began. Right off the back, the single "She Bad Bad" is really weird. Well the hook was anyway. It sounded more like it's saying "shababa" instead of what the title says. The remix, which is the last track is a little bit more tolerable because of Pusha T and Juicy J's verses. On "Wanna Be" she had the worst flow of any song on the album. It was too fast and too current of what's popular now. Totally not her. Missy Elliott warps her voice on the guest verse to sound real high pitched and it kinda just made things worse. Not a good song. "Grind Or Die" has this clubby dance sound but it was kinda all over the place for me. A title like that I thought this would be about something else but it's more dumbed down flow and lyrics with a below average hook and a infectious dance beat. Certain clubs might like but me...nah. "Keep Me From You" is yet another track with a up tempo dance beat with another uncharacteristic fast flow. The song really did nothing for me and Dawn Richards hook wasn't all that great either. Her "lovey dovey" track was "Forgive Me" which really didn't even feel like that kind of song. Again, very fast paced and another not so good hook. Though I could see it becoming a single. "All Night" I could see potentially growing on me but right now to me something is off about it. The beat is okay and the lyrics but I don't know. It may grow on me. Well now on to the few positives I found. If I had to pick a favorite track it might be "Never Gone". Simply because it seemed like the only song that actually had a decent topic and held my attention the most. The intro track "Eve" became likeable after a few listens. Even though she switches her flow up a lot on here the beat and hook were kinda catchy. "Mama In The Kitchen" might have been my favorite beat on here. I would have liked to heard Snoop Dogg spit something besides being on the hook but it's still a okay song. Well overall, as a fan of Eve I'm a bit disappointed in this project and most other fans might be too. I give it a final grade of a D+. I think this album proves that Eve may be past her prime and well...fell off. She may just need to stick to the other activities she's involved with. But there's still no denying that she is in the top ten female rappers of all time. Still the queen of Philly and still the "illest pitbull in a skirt". End.
Final Grade: D+
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