New Jersey-born Dana Elaine Owens grew up under fairly normal circumstances, studying in Catholic girls’ schools, until she entered the music industry in 1988. Since then, she’s bloomed into the multi-hyphenate celebrity we now know her to be. Why is she famous?
Queen Latifah is famous because of the dynamic career she’s built for herself since starting out as a rapper in the late 1980s. Since then, she’s delved into acting in movies and television, as well as hosting her own talk show, The Queen Latifah Show.
She received attention for rapping and singing about Black women’s issues like domestic violence, relationship problems, and harassment on the streets. Having a strong, intelligent, no-nonsense” persona, she was considered to be the first feminist rapper.
Rapping and repping for women
Her earlier work was described as woman-centric and Afrocentric. She was also the first-ever rapper to perform in the halftime show of the Superbowl XXXII.
Her third album, Black Reign was certified gold in the US, and her song, “U.N.I.T.Y.” won a Grammy Award in 1993 for Best Rap Solo Performance.
Hip-hop beginnings
Having the ability to sing and rap, Queen Latifah was discovered by a Tommy Boy music executive named Dante Ross. He signed her and issued her first single, “Wrath of My Madness.”
Her first album All Hail The Queen was released in 1989 with a carrier single, “Ladies First” featuring Monie Love.
For Latifah, it was a creative outlet that featured hip-hop, reggae, soulful backup vocals, boppish scatting, snappy horn back-ups, and house music. This was followed by her second studio album titled Nature Of A Sista’ in 1991.
Queen Latifah’s third studio album, Black Reign, hit gold, and the song, “U.N.I.T.Y.” bagged a Grammy. To date, this is Latifah’s biggest hit single in the US and her only song to reach the Top 30 of the Billboard Top 100.
In 1998, Motown Records produced her fourth studio album, Order In The Court. This album was partly dedicated to the late Tupak Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.
It was the time when the West and East Coast rap scenes intensified their rivalry. Before the album’s release, a rivalry between Latifah and Foxy Brown sparked.
It was in 1996 when both women fought over being the “real Queen of Hip-Hop.” Foxy Brown’s debut album Ill Na Na sold 7 million copies worldwide and was certified platinum by RIAA.
Both rappers released counter diss records to prove who’s on top. Latifah rapped about Foxy Brown’s overt use of sexuality and always wearing skimpy outfits, while Foxy Brown questioned Latifah’s sexuality.
The feud between these two ended by 2000, with Foxy Brown even performing her song, “Na Na Be Like,” in The Queen Latifah Show.
Acting beginnings
Queen Latifah started her career in acting in the 1990s. She started with supporting roles in movies like House Party 2, Juice, and Jungle Fever. She also did some episodes for The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smith‘s breakout show.
She starred in her own FOX sitcom, Living Single, where her real-life mom, Rita, played her on-screen mother. It had a good following and received a couple of Primetime Emmy nominations.
In 1996, she was part of the movie Set It Off with Jada Pinkett Smith and Vivica A. Fox. The movie was a box office success, grossing $41 million on a $9 million budget.
Mainstream success
Queen Latifah also conquered the small screen. She hosted her own talk show from 1999-to 2001, The Queen Latifah Show.
It featured both celebrities and non-celebrities, human interest stories, musical performances, and pop culture in general. A revamp of the talk show aired in 2013 and continued broadcast until it was canceled due to declining ratings in March 2015.
Snippets and past episodes of her talk show are uploaded in her YouTube channel.
Queen Latifah hit mainstream success in the early 2000s when she was cast as Matron “Mama” Morton in the Academy Award-winning musical film, Chicago. She received an Oscar Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance.
The following year, she also had another box office hit movie with Steve Martin, Bringing Down The House. In 2006, she top-billed the comedy movie, The Last Holiday. Though the film was a box-office bomb, Latifah was praised for her charm and humor in the movie.
Her next hit came in the movie adaptation of Hairspray. In this film, she acted, danced, and sang together with her co-stars John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Zac Efron, to name a few.
In the same year, she played a woman with HIV in the film, Life Support. She received critical acclaim and was awarded Best Actress by both The Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Awards.