September 26, 2007 @ 2:00 pm

Queen Latifah: The House that Queen Built

by: Clay Cane

The hip hop pioneer - Ms. Owens if you're nasty - on her singing career, her new album and the lack of female rappers today.

Since debuting in 1989 with the Monie Love duet "Ladies First," Queen Latifah has created an empire. The hip hop pioneer's first album was confidently titled All Hail the Queen; since then, she's cultivated a career as an Oscar nominee, Covergirl model and A-List Hollywood celebrity.

In 2007, the Grammy winner added two commercially successful, critically acclaimed films: the musical Hairspray, and Life Support, a thought-provoking film about HIV/AIDS in the black community. Now, she's returning to music with Travel'n' Light, which hit stores yesterday (September 25). A collection of covers from the most legendary jazz artists of our time, this is the Queen's second vocal album, showcasing a cool fusion of jazz and soul.

With a passion in her voice, Latifah spoke with VIBE.com about her new album, her frustrations about the current state of hip-hop, the ignored legacy of female rappers and much more. Introducing L-A-T - a must-read interview for anyone who values hip hop history.

Tell me the about the new album, Travel'n' Light.
It's a follow-up to my first all-singing album, The Dana Owens Album, which basically is just about me expressing that side of me. A lot of people know me as Queen Latifah, but there are other sides. This was my chance to let the singing out and I felt like the timing was right. The first half is jazz standards and the other half is an eclectic mix of different genres from soul to folk, like with "Poetry Man" and ballads like "I Know Where I've Been" from Hairspray. Stevie Wonder's on there playing harmonica. I think it's a real good vibe. 

You're performing songs by some legendary artists from Billie Holiday to Nina Simone. How did you choose who to cover?
I just choose what I like. Monica Lynch, who's my A&R on this album, put together a bunch of CDs with different music on it; I just listened to song after song. I do searches online and go through what I had in my collection. Just things that I remembered hearing as a kid that I liked such as [Phoebe Snow's] "Poetry Man," that was one of those songs. If I felt the vibe for it, I would try it.

This summer, you played Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray - a role originally played by jazz singer Ruth Brown. How was it?
It was wonderful! It was a lot of fun - we worked with an incredible cast and a great crew, a lot of the same people that did Chicago. The energy on the set was always live because you got these young, energetic dancers and it's a comedy, so the set is all bright. It's in the '60s, so it was a period piece. I got to play this character that helps to empower the kids, helps them to live out their dreams and go for their goals. Plus, I got some cool songs to sing - it was dope to me.

Is it true that you will be joining the cast of The Color Purple as Sofia?
I was offered the role, but I'm not going to be doing it. I can't fit it right now; it's not a good time for me.

Racism and sexism have improved so much since the days of Hairspray, and even since the days of many of the artists you've covered on your new album. Can you think of a time in your career when you've experienced racism or sexism? How did you combat that?
As female rappers, you're going to experience sexism. The business is very male dominated, from the label level as well as from the industry, in terms of who is actually signed as artists. There weren't a lot of female rappers - there still aren't to this day. That, to me, doesn't make much sense. In terms of spending money on marketing dollars, there was a time when they thought, female rappers can't sell so we're not going to spend that much money on them. I know that Lyte went through that, I know that I went through that; we had to really change the game and we still did well despite all of that. We had to change a lot of people's perspectives on the fact that we could sell records and we should be here. That was the instant sexism.

Then there was just like overt sexuality and being respected as a woman, not just as a sex object or something for a man's pleasure. Even in the business, a lot of people are involved with the people who are working with them or for them. As a big girl, you have a pressure to be thin - it wasn't just a white thing. It was like everybody wanted Janet's body, for that matter! [Laughs] I remember when Janet made that transition from her adolescent body to her grown-woman body, but with a big booty. That was the goal for everybody to do and I'm like, "Well, I ain't Janet!" And, I'm this kind of rapper and I want to be known what I'm known for. It's always been times in my career, from the beginning where I had to make sure I was staying in my lane and being me - not trying to be another female rapper or like anybody else, just go for the things that I believed I was capable of.

In 2005, the Grammys cut the best "female rap solo performance" award, and in 2007 the BET Awards followed. How do you feel about the state of women in hip-hop?
Well, honestly, I feel like we're at deficit right now. There are not enough female rappers; I don't feel like there's enough support like it should be. But I'm encouraged. I'm not giving up. I think there are female rappers out there who are waiting in the wings. Of course I feel like the vets still got albums in them. I know that Lil Kim is working on her new album. I know that no matter what Foxy is going through, she got another album in her. Brat got another album in her. Lyte got another album in her. Salt 'N Pepa even got another album in them. So do I. It's just a question of hooking up with the people who will bring the best out of them and make it happen.

You know, we gotta value everybody; we have to value this music. The same way we treasure Eric B. & Rakim, we should treasure Salt N' Pepa because they helped break this thing open and take it to a level it hadn't been to. I remember Salt N' Pepa being the first act to play Russia when the Iron Curtain was still up, or had just barely not even fallen down yet. That was monumental. I remember Lyte being the first rapper to play Carnegie Hall. I have the ultimate respect for my female counterparts and I think that it could've been larger had the guys not had such egos and been so controlling. A lot of the females, it's like one girl per camp and the guys want to be so territorial and fight over whose balls are the biggest, but they're using us as a pawn. Not me, I'm not managed; I own my own company and I always have, but I noticed that about a lot of the different camps. There should've been a lot more collaborations between a lot of the female rappers that are out. But I think there's instant possessiveness, if you will, created when guys that run their management companies, or labels, want to hoard things, to keep their control over that female artist and create tensions, rather than create communication and collaborations. So for me, anytime I've got to hear women just make hot records together I'm always excited. I remember hearing records with Brat and Kim, Foxy and Brat, Mary and Kim, or Lauryn and Mary... I'd just like to hear that continue. I think Shawnna is an incredible rapper, I think Remy is dope and I'd like to hear them make records together. The same way I'd like to hear some of my male counterparts make records together.

When the Don Imus situation happened and hip hop received so much backlash, a lot people were asking what does Queen Latifah think. What was your take?
I weighed in a couple times, but I wasn't really trying to jump on the bandwagon of Don Imus. Don Imus is nothing worse than what you hear radio stations in the morning say, or the afternoon, or what black people say on the radio. Of course it was wrong and that's why I hate shock jock radio most of the time. I don't know where along the way we decided we had to hear a bunch of negativity about everybody and foul things in order to be entertained. That we had to hear "goddamn" on the radio, "nigger" on the radio and a "shit" slip every once in awhile and a "fuck" slip every once in awhile. Radio just took a nosedive in terms of the kind of things you could get away with saying. I don't know who said that was okay,  or who felt that was cool. I never felt that was cool. I never felt that cursing, just to curse on a record, was hot. That's not really creative to me, and I come from an era of extremely creative rappers. Eric B and Rakim, Public Enemy, Heavy D and the Boys, Big Daddy Kane, Fresh Prince, Salt 'N Pepa, MC Lyte - I'm coming from that! You know what I mean? Mad reggae artist, mad R&B artists... you wanted to not be like the next person. Somewhere along the line everybody wanted to be like each other. For me, we've always been able to police ourselves. You just have to have the balls to do it. That's all it's been about. All of these 2pac worshippers really need to listen to 2pac's music. They will hear a lot of positive music mixed in with so-called negative music. It's not about censorship; it's really about inspiring to be more creative and to take hip-hop to new levels.

When I think of Queen Latifah, I think of that girl from Newark that I could still chill with.  When the cameras go off, are you more like Cleo from Set It Off or the glamorous covergirl?
I don't know if I'm either one! [Laughs] If anything, I'm a mixture of the two. I've always got my feet on solid ground, but I have been around the world so I might chill on the block with my cousins and sit on the porch, sip a brew. At the same time I might want to come to the city and have dinner at a five-star restaurant and go hear some live music. I'm all of those people; I've taken a little bit of something from everywhere I've been. I feel like I could definitely chill with you but we might have to go some place a little nicer! [Laughs]

Is it safe to say that you will do another hip hop album?
It's safe to say that I am hip hop - and I will always be hip hop.

Article tags: Dana Owens, Monie Love, Queen Latifah, Remy Ma, Shawnna 

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