Line #34 Music/QueenLatifah


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/latifah_1712.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:250:All Hail the Queen]]
3	Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970 in Newark, New Jersey), better known by her stage name '''Queen Latifah''', is an American rapper, actor 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. She was born and raised in East Orange, New Jersey, the daughter of Rita (née Bray), a schoolteacher who worked at Irvington High School, and Lancelot Owens, Sr., a police officer.
4
5	She started beatboxing for the rap group Ladies Fresh. Latifah was one of the members of the original version of the Flavor Unit, a crew of Emcees grouped around producer DJ Mark the 45 King. Mark James, aka "DJ Mark the 45 King", made a demo recording of Queen Latifah's rap "Princess of the Posse". He gave the recording to the host of ''Yo! MTV Raps'', Fab 5 Freddy. The song got the attention of Tommy Boy Music employee Dante Ross, who signed Latifah and in 1988 issued her first single, "Wrath of My Madness".
6	----
7	!!Notable songs
8
9	* "Ladies First"
10	* "Latifah's Had It Up 2 Here"
11	* "U.N.I.T.Y."
12	* "Black Hand Side"
13	* "Just Another Day..."
14	* "I Can't Understand"
15	* "[[ClusterFBomb Name Callin']]"
16
17	----
18	!!Discography
19
20	* 1989: ''All Hail the Queen''
21	* 1991: ''Nature of a Sista''
22	* 1993: ''Black Reign''
23	* 1998: ''Order in the Court''
24	* 2004: ''The Dana Owens Album''
25	* 2007: ''Trav'lin' Light''
26	* 2009: ''Persona''
27
28	----
29	!!Works Latifah has appeared in:
30	* ''Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir'' (1991) as Marissa Redman, Dee Dee
31	* ''Film/JungleFever'' (1991) as Waitress
32	* ''Film/HouseParty 2'' (1991) as Zora
33	* ''Film/{{Juice}}'' (1992) as Ruffhouse M.C.
34	* ''Film/MyLife'' (1993) as Theresa
35	* ''Series/LivingSingle'' (1993-1998) as Khadijah James
36	* ''Series/HanginWithMrCooper'' (1994) as herself
37	* ''WesternAnimation/TheCritic'' (1995) as herself (voice)
38	* ''Film/SetItOff'' (1996) as Cleopatra "Cleo" Sims
39	* ''Series/{{Ellen}}'' (1997) as herself
40	* ''Film/{{Hoodlum}}'' (1997) as Sulie
41	* ''Literature/{{Sphere}}'' (1998) as Alice "Teeny" Fletcher
42	* ''Film/LivingOutLoud'' (1998) as Liz Bailey
43	* ''Film/TheBoneCollector'' (1999) as Nurse Thelma
44	* ''Film/BringingOutTheDead'' (1999) as Dispatcher Love (voice)
45	* ''Series/SpinCity'' (2001) as Robin Jones
46	* ''Film/TheCountryBears'' (2002) as herself, Cha-Cha
47	* ''Film/{{Pinocchio\|2002}}'' (2002) as Dove (voice; English dub)
48	* ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' (2002) as Matron Mama Morton
49	* ''Film/BringingDownTheHouse'' (2003) as Charlene Morton
50	* ''Film/ScaryMovie 3'' (2003) as Aunt Shaneequa / The Oracle
51	* ''Film/{{Barbershop}} 2: Back in Business'' (2004) as Gina Norris
52	** ''Film/BeautyShop'' (2005)
53	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' (2004) as Pam Dromeda (voice)
54	* ''Film/{{Taxi\|2004}}'' (2004) as Isabelle "Belle" Williams
55	* ''Film/TheMuppetsWizardOfOz'' (2005) as Aunt Em
56	* ''Film/LastHoliday'' (2006) as Georgia Byrd
57	* ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeTheMeltdown'' (2006) as Ellie (voice)
58	** ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeDawnOfTheDinosaurs'' (2009)
59	** ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeContinentalDrift'' (2012)
60	** ''WesternAnimation/IceAgeCollisionCourse'' (2016)
61	* ''Film/StrangerThanFiction'' (2006) as Penny Escher
62	* ''Film/{{Hairspray\|2007}}'' (2007) as "Motormouth" Maybelle Stubbs
63	* ''Film/MadMoney'' (2008) as Nina Brewster
64	* ''Film/WhatHappensInVegas'' (2008) as Dr. Twitchell
65	* ''Literature/TheSecretLifeOfBees'' (2008) as August Boatwright
66	* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' (2008) as Gwen Ifill
67	* ''Film/ValentinesDay'' (2010) as Paula Thomas
68	* ''Series/{{Entourage}}'' (2010) as herself
69	* ''Series/ThirtyRock'' (2010) as Regina Bookman
70	* ''Film/TheDilemma'' (2011) as Susan Warner
71	* ''Film/JoyfulNoise'' (2012) as Vi Rose Hill
72	* ''Film/SteelMagnolias'' (2012) as Mary Lynn "M'Lynn" Eatenton
73	* ''Series/JimmyKimmelLive'' (2014) as Sweet Brown
74	* ''Film/TwentyTwoJumpStreet'' (2014) as Mrs. Dickson
75	* ''Series/HotInCleveland'' (2014) as Aunt Esther Jean Johnson
76	* ''Bessie'' (2015) as Music/BessieSmith
77	* ''[[Theatre/TheWiz The Wiz Live!]]'' (2015) as The Wiz
78	* ''[[Series/LeeDanielsStar STAR]]'' (2016-19) as Carlotta Brown
79	* ''Film/GirlsTrip'' (2017) as Sasha Franklin
80	* ''Film/{{Flint}}'' (2017) as Iza Banks
81	* ''VideoGame/SayonaraWildHearts'' (2019) as Narrator (voice)
82	* ''Series/{{Hollywood\|2020}}'' (2020) as Creator/HattieMcDaniel
83	* ''Series/{{The Equalizer\|2021}}'' (2021-present) as Robyn [=McCall=]
84	* ''WesternAnimation/MayaAndTheThree'' (2021) as the Gran Bruja (voice)
85	* ''The Tiger Rising'' (2022) as Willie May
86	* ''Film/{{Hustle\|2022}}'' (2022) as Teresa Sugerman
87	----
88	!!! "All Hail the Queen's Tropes":
89	* [[TheBigGuy The Big Girl]]
90	* BigBeautifulWoman: Her ''Chicago'' character provides the page image. She has slimmed down considerably in recent years, but she's still curvy enough to have this trope apply to her. Especially the "beautiful" part.
91	* CanonDiscontinuity: Her early albums aren't easy to find in stores.
92	* CoverAlbum: ''The Dana Owens Album,'' ''Trav'lin' Light''.
93	* ClusterFBomb: "Name Callin'" features Latifah cursing almost every other word. And it's quite sexy, really.
94	* HipHop
95	** UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHipHop
96	%%* [[IKnowKarate I Know Kickboxing]]
97	* JazzRap: Like the rest of the Native Tongues, Latifiah's first three albums were heavily drenched in jazz samples and influence. She'd drop the rapping after the turn of the millennium, and recorded straight jazz standards for her next two.
98	* Letters2Numbers: "Latifah's Had It Up 2 Here," "Listen 2 Me,"
99	* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething
100	* SelfTitledAlbum: ''The Dana Owens Album''
101	* StatuesqueStunner: As the intro notes, she's 5'10 and quite attractive.
102	* {{Supergroup}}: Latifah's a charter member of both the Flavor Unit (45 King, Apache, Lakim Shabazz, etc) and the Native Tongues (Music/DeLaSoul, [[Music/ATribeCalledQuest ATCQ]], Jungle Brothers, etc) collectives, and one of the [[TheSmurfettePrinciple few female emcees in either group]]. Latifah eventually became the leader of Flavor Unit after drug addiction took its toll on the 45 King.
103	* {{Sitcom}}: ''Series/LivingSingle'', ''Series/ThirtyRock''
104	* SpellingSong: "U.N.I.T.Y."
105	* TakeThat:
106	** "I Can't Understand" and "Rough" from ''Black Reign'' were responses to Roxanne Shantaé's diss to her on the latter's track "Big Lady":
107	---> ''You don't wanna be a sista' in the name of rap\
108	And yet you wanna talk shit and your style is wack\
109	I would have squashed it before and made the whole issue dead\
110	But now I'm fed, so it's off with your head\
111	Now, the moral of the verse is your career is through\
112	And don't be fuckin' with nobody who ain't fuckin' with you\
113	If I was in yo shoes I'd let the BS start walkin'\
114	Next time there might not be no talkin'''.
115	** "Name Callin'" was allegedly a [[StealthInsult subliminal diss]] towards Foxy Brown. A [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nGXdqOoBiY Part 2]] was recorded after Brown released a homophobic diss towards Latifah in response to the first. [[note]]Latifah's sexuality has been questioned since at least the late '90s, though she would finally come out in 2021.[[/note]]
116	---> ''I don't spit subliminals no doubt\
117	This way you don't walk around wondering who the fuck I'm talkin' bout'\
118	I'm not trippin', I heard you rippin'\

Context Music / QueenLatifah