For music lovers, Eva is the gifted rapper that makes them pause and listen to the lyrics of her songs. Thanks to her talent, the Bowen University graduate of Computer Science appeared on the acclaimed Cypher segment during the 2012 edition of the BET HIP-HOP Awards.
Top acts like Kanye West, Nicky Minaj and Eminem have also appeared on Cypher.
Ask the guys and they will tell you that the artiste known as Eva Alordiah off stage is eye candy they would gladly stare at. Add up her sexy looks with her rapping prowess and you will understand why there is a buzz about the artiste once signed to Trybes Records.
It wasn’t long after the death of pop star, Goldie that TS Weekend met with Eva for this chat. She had a close relationship with the Skibobo singer, which lasted until she passed on in February. Despite her sadness, Eva was willing to talk about the person behind the Goldie persona, perhaps to ensure that fans have a good memory of her late friend.
“Goldie is an inspiration to me. I modeled my image and career after her. I also emulate her work ethic because she was hard working and she knew exactly what she wanted,” she said. “I can tell you that as we are in the beginning of the year, Goldie must have mapped out all the things she must do in 2013 and she would have worked hard until she achieved each one of her goals.
We were scheduled to do a track together. But we never got to do it. I regret this so much.”
Eva’s expression of grief didn’t stop at the broken dreams of the artiste whose unique style and colourful videos earned her the ‘Nigerian Lady Gaga’ moniker from admiring fans, she expressed dismay over the remarks made about Goldie after she returned from the BBA. According to the rapper, people didn’t know the real Goldie.
“She literarily lived through the negative remarks that came her way all through her career. I must say there was just too much hate coming the way of such a great musician.
But it didn’t stop her from doing things her way. She never tried to repackage herself or her music to suit those criticizing her. “I feel sad she died at the point where she was repackaging her career after the BBA show.
She was at the Grammy, she was about to do a song with Ciara, it is quite clear she was working to take her career to a higher level when this happened,” Eva disclosed. Asked to describe Goldie, Eva waxed lyrical.
“Goldie was not just a dancer or a good singer, she was not just a pop princess, she was also an original. She was the quintessential artiste who loved to create art.” Eva equally talked to TS Weekend about her career, love life and why she can make the first move on a guy she finds attractive.
Enjoy it.
YOU SAID PEOPLE DON’T KNOW THE REAL GOLDIE. WHAT WAS THE REAL GOLDIE LIKE?
I worked with her during her Goldie and Friends tour from Ibadan to Ife. She performed in schools in that area. It was during the tour that I discovered the workaholic Goldie. She was a perfectionist. She wanted her stage attires to look good. She ensured that her performance is worth the time of the audience. Her stagecraft was phenomenal.
It is sad that all people could think of her was how to misrepresent her art. Yet, she stood by what she believed in. Here is someone that I knew for five years and she never changed her style.
She never thought of changing her style because some people didn’t like it and I admire her for this. The Goldie that I knew was such a warm, sweet, childish and vibrant girl.
NOW TELL US WHO EVA REALLY IS?
The real Eva is vastly different from the one people know. The Eva people know is ghetto, gangster and hood. The real Eva is an introvert. I like to stay at home, cook and just enjoy my time in the house. I know my fans will like to say I have cooks and maids who do my chores, but I wasn’t raised that way. My mum ensured that I am grounded.
I have been inculcated with the chore values a Nigerian child needs to excel in life. The real me puts others before herself. I am highly emotional. Unfortunately, when I step out of the house to work, I switch mode and turn to the gangster and hood person people expect me to be. I also have to get my boss-look on because in this (music) industry you have to be in control of your career. Being in control of my career is another thing I learnt from Goldie.
BUT YOUR SONG, HIGH, DOESN’T SOUND LIKE WHAT CAME FROM A CONSERVATIVELY RAISED GIRL THAT YOU ARE?
The song, High, is an artistic expression. I don’t smoke or drink. High wasn’t created to promote the use of illicit drugs or irresponsibility of any kind.
What I meant by my getting high is that I am getting back to doing the things that I like, things that make me high. If you listen to the lyrics of the song, you will understand the literal meaning of it.
I talked about how life can get one low and how happy you feel when you can get back on your feet. I, for example, have to go through the hassles of the industry but I don’t stay at the bottom. I get up and get high up where I want to be. This is why if you look at the video of the song which I co-directed and styled myself in, you get to see two Eva(s).
In one scene, there is the Eva that is low in the bathtub and in another scene there is the red-haired Eva who is happy to be making music.
DON’T YOU THINK THAT SOME PEOPLE WHO SAW THE CIGAR SMOKE AND OTHER STUFF IN YOUR VIDEO WOULD WANT TO IMITATE YOU?
It would have been a different thing if I puffed a cigar in the video. But I didn’t. I wasn’t smoking and feeling the chemicals from cigar. In fact, the smoke is a special effect used by the director. The scene you are talking about has me in a hooded top with smoke swirling around me. I was in my dark zone from where I got into another scene where I was in my happy mode of making music.
TALKING ABOUT THE DARK SIDE, WHY ARE ARTISTES INTO THESE KINDS OF THINGS THAT MAKE PEOPLE THINK THEY ARE INVOLVED IN THE OCCULT?
But we all know that life can be dark sometimes. People have their own problems. There isn’t a single human being who doesn’t have challenges. For me, it’s the challenges of the music industry that get me brooding sometimes. For some people, it might be marital problems, others may be struggling in school and that’s why a lot of people can relate with someone being in the dark side for a moment or two. I am not into the dark side like some people might think.
IT MEANS YOU DON’T ASCRIBE TO THE ILLUMINATI TALK WHIRLING AROUND ENTERTAINERS?
No. I believe in God. I believe in working hard and walking with God. I am a Christian and right now, all I’m interested in is building a good relationship with Him. There was a time I could go for weeks without picking up my Bible. All of that time I used to feel empty, but now I have chosen to relate closely with God. And it feels much better.
SO HOW DOES AN INTROVERT LIKE YOU SPEND HER TIME INDOORS?
I read all kinds of books from the Bible to the dictionary. I have to read because it helps me improve on my vocabulary. I need to be good with words since I write music. I like to cook. I do a lot of cooking. I have seven dogs that I love to spend time with. I watch movies at home. I don’t know why but I have never been to the cinema to watch a movie. I hang out with my family. I am not saying I am loner; I am not a sad person.
But I leave my house only when there is work to do either at my make-up studio or if it is about doing music. I don’t go around partying and drinking.
WHAT KIND OF FOOD DO YOU COOK? ARE YOU REALLY GOOD AT COOKING?
I am a great cook. I learnt so much from my mum in the kitchen. I have also learnt stuff from market women. I know how to make delicacies from other parts of the country and Delta, my home state.
The good thing about me is that my use of costumes makes it easy for me to shop for foodstuff in any market. People know me with my crazy hair colours and unique outfits. But when I step out in everyday wear, they hardly recognise me.
When going to the market or doing other regular stuff I transform myself from the extra-ordinary Eva to the chic Eva.
DON’T YOU CHILL WITH YOUR MAN AT HOME SINCE YOU ARE NOT KEEN ON GOING OUT?
Oh!We’ve come to the part where you ask if I am single. Well, I am single. Valentine just went by and I was working on the day.
MOST PEOPLE WORKED ON VAL’S DAY BUT THEY LATER WENT OUT WITH THEIR PARTNERS. HOW ABOUT YOU?
I went to my hotel room after the show and I slept off.
WHY DIDN’T ANYONE ASK YOU OUT ON VAL’S DAY?
I don’t know. I guess they aren’t looking my way (laughter). I am single and enjoying things the way they are. Like I said, I want to have good relationship with God. I think this is the period for me to better myself and improve on my craft. I am really excited now and I just want to concentrate on my career.
WHY DO YOU RELEGATE MARRIAGE TO THE BACKGROUND WHEN IT IS COMMON KNOWLEDGE THAT CHRISTIANS BELIEVE SO MUCH IN IT?
Oh yes, marriage is important to God. This is why he put Adam and Eve together. But I guess I have to wait till happens. This is not to say I am the kind that waits for a guy to make the first move. If I see a guy I like, I will walk up to him and tell him that ‘I think you’re cute and I like you’.
Talking about cute men, there are so many of them in Nigeria. Nigerian men are cute and I have dated them in the past. But now, it’s not just working with any guy.
TALKING ABOUT CUTE GUYS, YOU WERE ONCE LINKED TO MI. WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT RELATIONSHIP?
I wasn’t romantically linked to MI. I was linked to him career wise. At some point he wanted to sign me on his record label because he liked my music. But things didn’t work out as planned. Even if you try harder, you won’t be able to link with any guy. I told you that I don’t gallivant around the place. I just do my work and I mind my business.
WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF LOVE?
Love is love. I really don’t know how to define it. Two years ago, I would have said, love is that thing that everyone should experience. If you asked me two months back, I would have said love doesn’t exist. So, what I am saying is that people’s opinion of love changes with what they are experiencing when you ask them. In other words love is love no matter what happens.
HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED TRUE LOVE?
I don’t know which one is true or false love. I just enjoy the moment and share the time I have with someone else when it happens. I have learnt to enjoy the moment because you never know how long that person will be around. I know that God placed us here to share whatever we have with another person. I guess that is why Adam shared the garden with Eve!
PEOPLE OFTEN TALK ABOUT HOW TOUGH IT IS FOR FEMALE RAPPERS TO MAKE IT IN THE INDUSTRY. ARE THEY CORRECT?
I would say it’s tough for female entertainers on the whole not just rappers. I have been in the industry since May 2009 and all this time I have grown. I have learnt a lot in this short time. I have learnt that you have to be focused on what you want. The problem most of the time has to do with female artistes depending on people (especially men) to do things for them. And because the industry is so male dominated, women sometimes get intimidated.
I think it is important for artistes to get into the industry with a clear-cut vision of what they want. When you come into the industry there are so many offers and record deals thrown at you with people promising you all sorts of things. But I tell you that I am much better an artiste doing things my way. It is important that an artiste understands his/her brand.
This is something else I learnt from Goldie, she understood the kind of brand she built. She used to wear long lashes and all other stuff because it suited her brand. She didn’t bow to what others felt and I think female acts should emulate her philosophy.
WHAT DO FEMALE ARTISTES NEED TO DO TO SURVIVE?
They should create a brand, understand the brand and constantly build on it no matter what people say. For me, an artiste really needs to come prepared for the industry because there is so much artistes have to deal with.
You have to deal with your creativity, deal with the business side and you have to fight your demons that struggle to stop you from being superb. Then you have to step out to deal with the haters who don’t see anything good about your work. It is really a crazy world female entertainers live in.
It is even more complicated when you remember that there is only one spot for female artistes. What I mean is that when you look at the roasters for shows, there are the guys and one female. It is never the other way round.
So, the female acts have to first become the only girl on the bill before they become one of the big acts around.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE FOR YOU?
I am ready for the world. I am ready to live my life. I cannot tell you what will happen exactly. But what I know is that I will be concentrating on my work and knowing God better. I don’t like saying things like I want to own a make up line or I want to be a big act because God has the final say.
Nobody can be cocksure of his or her plan. Goldie, my friend passed on recently and I can tell you she had such good plans. But now, she is no more. So, as long as I have the gift of life and I know that I can get all I need from God, I will keep looking up to him. I hope I have kids though!
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