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"    Photo: Billy Farrell agency/Leandro Justen   Rapper-turned-actress Eve celebrated the release of her new album, Lip Lock, at the Monika Chiang flagship store in Soho last night, where notable guests like Jamie Chung and Estelle were roaming among the downtown threads and accessories. Eve has been busy in Hollywood for the past 10 years, appearing in Barbershop and its sequel, roller-derby flick Whip It, and guest starring on Glee. But she&amp;#039;s returning to her hip-hop roots with a new album Lip Lock, out May 14. We caught up with the Grammy winner about returning to music, fashion, and her evolving hairstyles.   It&amp;#039;s been more than a decade since your last album. How did this one come together? Are there any new artists who inspired you? Once I started working on it, everything fell into place. It&amp;#039;s not so much artists who inspire me, [but rather the] beats I hear [that inspire me]. But I love Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, and Azealia Banks. We just had our women in music issue. You have songs with other female musicians\u2014Missy Elliott and Jamaican rapper Miss Kitty\u2014on the album. What&amp;#039;s your philosophy on female rappers collaborating on songs?  I&amp;#039;m not threatened by working with other female rappers, it makes the music better! It&amp;#039;s weird\u2014guys collaborate all the time, they make mix tapes together, they get on songs together. Why can&amp;#039;t women? We have to help each other and support each other. When I finished recording &amp;quot;E.V.E.&amp;quot; in L.A., I thought it was missing something. I said, I need a Jamaican girl rapping on this track! So I had my friend Shaggy call Miss Kitty in Kingston, and at 1 a.m., she went in the studio and recorded her verse. It was perfect. What do you like about Monika Chiang? If she designed an &amp;quot;Eve&amp;quot; bag, what would you want it to look like? I love Monika&amp;#039;s clothes because they&amp;#039;re fierce and classy at the same time. I hope she reads this and makes an &amp;quot;Eve&amp;quot; bag! It would be like a holdall, almost a tote that is bucket shaped but in python. It would have thick gold chains as the handles\u2014like old school Gucci chains. I want this bag now! Your cropped blonde hair was iconic when you first came out, and you&amp;#039;ve dyed it pink as well. What&amp;#039;s your hair routine now? Any mistakes you made when you were younger that you regret? I&amp;#039;m so schizophrenic with my hairstyles. My hair&amp;#039;s my mood. In the last week I&amp;#039;ve had four different hairstyles: a dark black wig, curly hair, this situation, and another thing. Literally in the past five days! My biggest regret was relaxing and dying my hair at the same time. Believe the stylist when they say you can&amp;#039;t relax and color. Never do it! My hair fell out.  Monika Chiang and Jamie Chung; Photo: Billy Farrell agency/Leandro Justen "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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