Queen Latifah

A highly charismatic rapper known for positive-minded, no-nonsense rhymes that command attention and demand respect, Queen Latifah is among the most recognizable and revered figures in hip-hop. The Native Tongues affiliate and Flavor Unit leader entered with one of the most significant debut albums of hip-hop's golden age, the Grammy-nominated All Hail the Queen (1989), led by the enduring Monie Love collaboration "Ladies First." Black Reign (1993), Latifah's third LP, featured another anthem, the Grammy-winning Top 40 pop hit "U.N.I.T.Y.," and became the first RIAA-certified gold album by a female rap artist, paving the way for more of her cohorts and younger women to be heard as the decade progressed. Latifah soon branched out into other media, appearing in movies and sitcoms, and hosting her own talk show. Her Academy Award-nominated supporting role in the 2002 movie musical Chicago led to her first jazz vocal recordings, The Dana Owens Album (2004) and Trav'lin' Light (2007), both of which were Grammy-nominated. Since releasing the pop-flavored Persona (2009), Latifah has focused primarily on acting and producing, earning more acclaim for Bessie and The Equalizer, among many other projects, while appearing on tracks with the likes of Rapsody, MC Lyte, and Big Freedia.

Queen Latifah was born Dana Owens in Newark, New Jersey, on March 18, 1970. Her Muslim cousin gave her the nickname Latifah -- an Arabic word meaning "delicate" or "sensitive" -- when she was eight. As a youngster, she starred in her high school's production of The Wiz, and began rapping in high school with a group called Ladies Fresh, in which she also served as a human beatbox. In college, she adopted the name Queen Latifah and hooked up with the Native Tongues, a collective that sought to bring a more positive, Afrocentric consciousness to hip-hop. She recorded a demo that landed her a record deal with Tommy Boy, and released her first single, "Wrath of My Madness," in 1988; it was followed by "Dance for Me." In 1989, Latifah's full-length debut, All Hail the Queen, was released to strongly favorable reviews, and the classic single "Ladies First" broke her to the hip-hop audience. In addition to tough-minded hip-hop, the album also found Latifah dabbling in R&B, reggae, and house, and duetting with KRS-One and De La Soul. It sold very well, climbing into the Top Ten of Billboard's R&B/hip-hop chart. Latifah quickly started a management company, Flavor Unit Entertainment, and was responsible for discovering Naughty by Nature. Her 1991 sophomore album, the lighter Nature of a Sista', yielded Top 20 R&B/hip-hop hits with "Fly Girl" and "Latifah's Had It Up 2 Here." When her contract with Tommy Boy was up, the label elected not to re-sign her.

Latifah emerged with a new sense of purpose and secured a deal with Motown, which issued Black Reign in 1993. Dedicated to her brother Lance, who had recently died in a motorcycle accident, it became her most popular album, eventually going gold. It also featured her biggest hit single, "U.N.I.T.Y.," which hit the R&B/hip-hop Top Ten and won a Grammy for Best Solo Rap Performance. By this point, Latifah had already begun her acting career, appearing in Jungle Fever, House Party 2, and Juice, as well as the TV series The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. In 1993, she was tabbed to co-star in the Fox comedy series Living Single, which ran until 1997. During that period, acting was her primary focus, and she also co-starred as a bank robber in the 1996 film Set It Off.

After Living Single was canceled in 1997, Latifah returned to the recording studio and finally began work on her fourth album. Order in the Court was released in 1998 and found her playing up the R&B elements of her sound in a manner that led some critics to draw comparisons to Missy Elliott; she took more sung vocals, and also duetted with Faith Evans and the Fugees' Pras. The album sold well on the strength of the singles "Bananas (Who You Gonna Call?)" and "Paper." The same year, she appeared in the films Sphere and Living Out Loud, singing several jazz standards in the latter. The Queen Latifah Show, a daytime talk show, debuted in 1999 and ran in syndication until 2001. Latifah's subsequent performance in the acclaimed movie musical Chicago earned her many accolades, including an Academy Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Around the same time, she received another Grammy nod when "Go Head," a single released in promotion of She's a Queen: A Collection of Greatest Hits, was nominated for Best Female Rap Solo Performance.

In 2004, Latifah released The Dana Owens Album, a diverse collection of covers and interpretations -- from Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band's "Hard Times" to Billy Strayhorn's "Lush Life" -- that highlighted her singing skills rather than her rapping. Trav'lin' Light followed with a similar format in 2007, ranging from the Pointer Sisters to Shirley Horn, with guest appearances from Stevie Wonder, Joe Sample, George Duke, Erykah Badu, and Jill Scott. During the years between the releases, she acted in several movies, including Taxi, Beauty Shop, Last Holiday, and Hairspray. In 2009, she released the star-studded Persona, a slick set produced by Cool & Dre. Amid more acting roles, Latifah rebooted The Queen Latifah Show, the second run of which lasted from 2013 through 2015. Her portrayal of Bessie Smith in the 2015 HBO film Bessie -- which she co-produced -- earned her a Best Actress Emmy nomination. Before the end of the decade, Latifah was featured on Rapsody's "U.N.I.T.Y"-quoting "Hatshepsut."

Latifah received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 BET Awards, and during the same year began her lead role on a reboot of the crime drama television series The Equalizer, which would last five seasons. She teamed with MC Lyte for the 2024 single "King King," and in 2026 was featured on a remix of Big Freedia and Dawn Richard's "Celebration." ~ Steve Huey