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Queen Latifah; on her BET Award for Lifetime Achievement Award, her influence on hip hop & the black culture. by VOFO.
by Rapjoint Lagos
Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and producer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album All Hail the Queenon November 28, 1989, featuring the hit single "Ladies First". Nature of a Sista' (1991) was her second and final album with Tommy Boy Records.
She found her stage name, Latifah (لطيفة laţīfa), meaning "delicate" and "very kind" in Arabic, in a book of Arabic names when she was eight. She began beat boxing for the hip-hop group Ladies Fresh and was an original member of the Flavor Unit, which, at that time, was a crew of MCs grouped around producer DJ King Gemini, who made a demo recording of Queen Latifah's rap Princess of the Posse.
She has been described as a "feminist" rapper. Latifah received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006. Latifah's work in music, film and television has earned her a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, an Academy Award nomination and sales of over two million records.
Elements of her music, in retrospect, were advanced for someone who hit the scene at 19 years old. 1994’s “U.N.I.T.Y,” from her third studio album, Motown’s Black Reign, was a clarion call against the pervasive misogyny in hip-hop culture. Latifah’s seminal anthem earned her the first rap Grammy awarded to a woman, and has been the subject of articles and scholarship on Black feminism in music, hip-hop, and media in general for the last 25-plus years. Impressively, it could also easily have dropped today, in the landscape of the #MeToo movement and rallying cries to #ProtectBlackWomen.
The Queen is beaming with PRIDE!!!.
Queen Latifah tearfully accepted her BET Award for Lifetime Achievement Award. Sunday, lyrical voluptuary Queen Latifah finally addressed her long-questioned sexual orientation. “Peace — happy Pride!” exclaimed Latifah in the closing remarks of her acceptance speech.
Throughout the years, the New Jersey-born musician-turned-Golden Globe winner has refused to confirm or deny suspicions of her homosexuality.
“I don’t have a problem discussing the topic of somebody being gay, but I do have a problem discussing my personal life,” Latifah insisted during an interview with the New York Times in 2008. “You don’t get that part of me,” she continued.
“I don’t feel like I need to share my personal life, and I don’t care if people think I’m gay or not. Assume whatever you want,” she went on. “You do it anyway.”
A tribute performance was made by Lil' Kim, Rapsody, MC Lyte, and Monie Love which made her emotional.
In her acceptance speech she could be seen holding back tears. She also gave a shout out to other fellow artists and said, "I wanted to celebrate us because I know together, we stand stronger than when we tear each other apart. And I’ve seen enough of that."
She also spoke about her family: "I've always celebrated the woman because I was raised by a strong Black woman."
Below is the link to the BET award show that took place on Sunday;
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VOFO.
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