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*** Eve

SCORPION

(Ruff Ryders/Interscope)

Despite her boasts of female independence, Eve’s debut album, 1999’s double-platinum Let There Be Eve: Ruff Ryders’ First Lady, felt more like a side project of DMX’s jumpy Ruff Ryders crew than a true solo work — steered by in-house beatmaker Swizz Beatz, it featured plenty of thuggish gun talk and guest spots from Ruff Ryders’ second-stringers. This self-proclaimed “pit bull in a skirt” attempts to break away from the Ryders’ aggro street stylings on her sophomore disc, Scorpion, by bringing in outside producers and far- ung collaborators, plus trying her hand at singing.

For the most part, it’s a change for the better. Dr. Dre’s coolly stalking beat on “That’s What It Is” provides a nice respite from Swizz Beats’ fractured Casio belch and Latin-derived club cuts. Gwen Stefani brings some lung power to “Let Me Blow Ya Mind.” And Teena Marie takes the unrestrained pathos of “Life Is So Hard” into the stratosphere. But Eve’s singing on a remake of Dawn Penn’s reggae classic “No, No, No” is barely passable. And when she tries to keep up with Da Brat and Trina on the freaky “Gangsta Bitches,” she comes off like the most prudish and least talented MC of the three. The obligatory posse cuts (“Scream Double R” and “Thug in the Street”) are fine if you like the Ryders’ howling-at-the-moon theatrics, but the salsafied first single, “Who’s That Girl?”, and the twee closer, “Be Me,” befit an MC who likes Gucci, not gats.

— Michael Endelman