Queen Latifah

Dana Elaine Owens, better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Queen Latifah's work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy Award nomination and an Academy Award nomination.


Latifah was born and raised in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of Rita, a schoolteacher who worked at Irvington High School, and Lancelot Owens, a policeman. Her parents divorced when Latifah was ten. Her stage name, Latifah, meaning "delicate" and "gentle" in Arabic, was given to her by her cousin when she was eight. Always a large girl, the currently 5'10" tall Latifah was a power forward on her high school basketball team.



Latifah started her career beatboxing for the rap group Ladies Fresh. Latifah was one of the members of the original version of the Flavor Unit, which, at that time, was a crew of MC's grouped around producer DJ Mark the 45 King. In 1988, DJ Mark the 45 King heard a demo version of Latifah's single "Princess of the Posse" and gave the demo to Fab Five Freddy, who was the host of Yo! MTV Raps.


Freddy helped Latifah sign with Tommy Boy Records, which released Latifah's first album All Hail the Queen in 1989, when she was nineteen. It was nominated for a Grammy in the "Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album" category.

In 2009, Latifah, along with the Jubilation Choir, recorded the title track on the album Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration, covering the song the Edwin Hawkins Singers made popular in 1969.


In 2008, Latifah was asked if she would make another hip-hop album. She was quoted saying the album was "already done" and it would be called "All Hail the Queen II". It was rumored that the album would be named "The 'L' Word". When asked about the rumor, she stated it was her attempt to "mess with people's heads" referring to rumors that she is lesbian. On September 12, 2008, Rolling Stone reported that Queen Latifah is working on a new album entitled,
"Persona". The cover of this album has a striking resemblance to the video game, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona. Not only do the different versions of Latifah line up in a similar fashion to the cover of the Playstation Portable game, but Latifah's cover uses a very similar font, with only slight differences such as the 'e' in Persona turned counterclockwise. The song "Cue the Rain" was released as the album's lead single. She also has a song with Missy Elliott.

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