Queen Latifah

Queen Latifah

Rapper, actress, producer

For the Record…

Acting Career

Honors and Awards

Selected discography

Sources

During the late 1980s, Queen Latifah emerged as one of the most significant artists to enter the scene of rap recording and earned a reputation as one of the most vital female artists of the following decade. In a recording media characterized by the belligerence of the gangster culture, Queen Latifah established herself as a pillar of female strength and developed a reputation as a role model for her generation.

Queen Latifah was born Dana Owens on March 18, 1970 in Newark, New Jersey. Her parents, Lance and Rita Owens, separated in 1978. After the breakup, Latifah lived in High Court in East Newark with her mother, a schoolteacher. She also maintained ties with her father, a police officer. At age eight, she was dubbed Latifah— from the Arabic for delicate and sensitive—by one of her cousins of Muslim background. Owens embellished her nickname with the “Queen” appellation on her own.

The intellectually gifted Latifah first began singing in the choir at Shiloh Baptist Church in Bloomfield, New Jersey. She added popular music, especially rap, to her

For the Record…

Born Dana Owens on March 18, 1970, in Newark, NJ; daughter of Lance, a police officer, and Rita Owens, a teacher. Education: Attended Borough of Manhattan Community College.

Released first rap single, “Wrath of My Madness” / “Princess of the Posse,” 1988, Tommy Boy Music; European tour and appearance at the Apollo Theater, 1989; released first album, All Hail the Queen, 1989; other releases include, Nature of a Sista, Tommy Boy Music, 1991; Black Reign, Motown, 1993; Order in the Court (includes “Bananas), Motown, 1998; CEO of Flavor Unit Entertainment Company (recording management).

Awards: Best New Artist, New Music Seminar of Manhattan; 1990, Soul Train Music Awards, Sammy Davis, Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year, 1995. Grammy Award, Best Rap Solo Performance, 1995.

Addresses: Record company —Motown Records, Publicity & Media Relations, 825 8th Ave. 28th floor, New York, NY 10019.

repertoire around the time she entered Irvington High School, where she also played power forward on her school’s championship basketball team.

Latifah’s love of rap inspired her to form a group called Ladies Fresh along with two of her friends, Tangy B and Landy D. The trio sang in talent shows and made other appearances. They eventually changed their name to Flavor Unit. The three young rappers attracted the interest of a local disc jockey and basement record producer named Mark James, which led to a contract for Latifah’s with Tommy Boy Music in 1988. Tommy Boy released Latifah’s first single, “Wrath of My Madness,” and the record proved highly successful. By the time Latifah graduated Irvington High School and entered Borough of Manhattan Community College, her first two single releases already had sold 40,000 copies.

In 1989, Latifah undertook a European tour and released her first album, All Hail the Queen, a diverse collection combining hip-hop, reggae, and jazz. The album espoused a number of socio-cultural themes including apartheid, women’s rights, and poverty. All Hail the Queen sold over one million copies. During the early days of her career Latifah always sported her trademark queen’s crown, wearing it at all public appearances.

In 1993, she released her first album on Motown, Black Reign, dedicated to the memory of her late brother, Lance Latifah, Jr. A police officer like his father, he was killed tragically in a motorcycle accident in 1992. The incident, by Latifah’s own admission, left her devastated and, in 1993, she was harshly criticized for producing Apache’s “Gangsta Bitch” release. She defended herself in classic rap rhetoric and argued that the music reflects reality and creates neither the situations nor the problems. Yet by the mid-1990s Latifah developed an association with an informal consciousness raising rap network, the Native Tongues, involving such groups as the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and Tribe Called Quest. The Native Tongues maintained an outspoken stance against violence—especially in rap.

In 1997, Latifah released her second album with Motown, Order in the Court The album included the hit single “Bananas,” with Apache. “Bananas” was listed on Billboards Best in August of 1998. Despite her youth, Latifah showed prudence and invested her earnings from early record sales. Soon she established herself as an entertainer, and as an entrepreneur as chief executive officer of Flavor Unit Management. Latifah owns the recording management firm in Jersey City, along with a partner, Shakim Compere. With Motown Records as a distribution channel, Flavor Unit Management has managed a number of rap artists and groups.

Acting Career

After achieving major success as a rapper, Latifah gained similar notoriety as an actress, mainly through her own hit television show, Living Single. Living Single aired for five years on the Fox Network, beginning in 1993. Although she found it necessary to live much of the year in Los Angeles, during the taping of the show, Latifah maintained a home in Wayne, New Jersey, and never ceased to consider New Jersey her home. Latifah also appeared on Fox’s “Smart Kids” in December of 1994, a program to encourage and empower contemporary youth.

Among Latifah’s early movies, House Party 2 was released in 1991 and featured Martin Lawrence. While House Party 2 was widely panned, she received wide acclaim for her role as Cleo Sims, a tough lesbian bank robber, in the film Sei It Off, with Vivica A. Fox. Latifah also recorded with Organized Noize for the title sound trackof the picture. Itwas the controversial nature of the role of Cleo Sims, however, that left the public-at-large to speculate impertinently about Latifah’s real-life sexuality. Latifah rebuked the invaders of her privacy with a sound determination to keep such personal matters private, asserting that details of her sexuality would never be of anyone’s concern but her own.

Latifah’s work as an actress runs the gamut of critical approval from an artistic standpoint. Her acting talents inevitably are praised, even when a movie or an album is panned. In September of 1994 she appeared on NBC’s Met Life Presents the Apollo Theatre Hall of Fame, and as a presenter at the 1994 Essence Awards. In 1997, she had a small role in the film “Hoodlum,” the story of Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson, an Harlem gangster from the depression era. In February of 1998, she starred in Warner Brothers’ Sphere with Dustin Hoffman and Sharon Stone.

Honors and Awards

In 1990, Latifah won an award as Best New Artist from the New Music Seminar of Manhattan. In April of 1994, she was nominated as solo artist of the year in the First Annual Source Hip-Hop Awards. Although she lost the award to Snoop Doggy Dogg, she came back in March of 1995 to win a Grammy award for Best Rap Solo Performance. Also in 1995, at the Soul Train Music Awards she won the Sammy Davis, Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year. Latifah performed at the American Music Awards in January of 1995, and in January of 1997 she was nominated for two Image Awards, including Best Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in Set It Off.

Although she is a hero of feminists in particular, she prefers to not be labeled. She believes in making some compromises, but not in the sacrifice of self worth for money. Latifah cultivates varied interests. Her associates include many prominent personalities. In 1997, she undertook to write a book about self-esteem, for publication by William Morrow and Company.

Selected discography

Singles

“Wrath of My Madness,” Tommy Boy Music, 1988.

“Dance for Me,” / Tommy Boy Muic.

Albums

All Hail the Queen, Tommy Boy Music, 1989.

Nature of a Sista, Tommy Boy Music, 1991.

Black Reign, Motown, 1993.

Order in the Court (includes “Bananas), Motown, 1998.

Sources

Entertainment, September 4 1992.

Essence, May 1, 1995.

New York Beacon, March 26 1997.

Source, August 1998.

—Gloria Cooksey