Eve Receives Long-Overdue Grammy For The Roots’ ‘You Got Me’
The rapper had an uncredited verse on the 1999 track, which won Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
All these years later, Eve is finally getting her due for her crucial contribution to the Roots’ “You Got Me.” The track, the lead single from 1999’s acclaimed Things Fall Apart, features Erykah Badu and Eve alongside the Philadelphia hip-hop band. But Eve, who was then performing as Eve of Destruction, was not included in the song’s credits, so she did not receive a Grammy when “You Got Me” won Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 2000.
That changed last Thursday at the Recording Academy Honors, a Grammy week event thrown by the academy’s Black Music Collective at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Santa Monica. At the gala—which also featured tributes to Pharrell Williams, Brandy, and Kirk Franklin—the academy rectified that omission. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. was on hand to present Eve with a Grammy 26 years after the song’s big win.
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“I’m still processing this situation,” Eve told the crowd after receiving her statuette. “This is actually for little Eve from Philly. Little girl Eve that was writing rhymes and just wanted to be in the business. I’m truly, truly grateful to be in this room with all of you here, all of the greats. Everyone, people who inspire me, my peers, everyone.” She recalled her surprise upon getting the call about the late-breaking Grammy. “What is yours never can miss you, even 30 years later,” she said. “So I’m truly grateful for this.”
This is not Eve’s first Grammy. She won Best Rap/Sung Collaboration in 2002 for her Gwen Stefani collaboration “Let Me Blow Your Mind.”
Eve is set to follow up last week’s Grammy moment with an appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show this Wednesday, Feb. 4. She’ll be promoting her memoir Who’s That Girl?
