♪ Ooh, ladies first, ladies first ♪
- [Narrator] All hail the queen.
♪ Ooh, ladies first, ladies first ♪
♪ The ladies will kick it ♪
♪ The rhyme that is wicked ♪
♪ Those that don't know how to be pros get evicted ♪
♪ A woman could bear you, break you, take you ♪
♪ Now it's time for rhyme, can you relate to ♪
♪ A sister dope enough to make you holler and scream ♪
♪ Hey y'all, lemme take it from here, Queen ♪
- [Narrator] When we're talking hip hop royalty,
you can never forget to mention
the one and only Queen Latifah.
With her crown held high,
this New Jersey native hit the rap scene
with her hit single, "Ladies First."
But she didn't stop there.
♪ And I'll recite chapter and verse ♪
♪ The title of this recital is "Ladies First" ♪
♪ Ooh ♪
- [Narrator] Not only is she
one of the great MCs of all time,
but the Queen is also an entrepreneur, singer, and actress,
from her iconic role as Khadijah James
on the 1990s sitcom, "Living Single,"
to films like "Set It Off," "Bessie,"
"Girls' Trip," and more.
(crowd chatters)
- Latifah is an Arabic name
and it means "delicate and sensitive."
And I think in Swahili, it means "graceful" as well.
What, that's the meaning of it.
We were going through the Muslim book of names
when I was eight.
My cousin, Sharanda, is Muslim.
And so we came across Latif.
I was like, "Oh, I like that."
She was like, "Yeah, I'm gonna give you that name.
That name should be yours."
So I kept it ever since I was eight (laughs),
through high school and whatever.
- [Narrator] Let's not forget to mention
her Grammy Award-winning single, "U.N.I.T.Y."
which shed light on women's rights
and raised awareness on the perspective
women have in their community, all around the world.
(audience applauds)
- Latifah's in the house! - I thought I'd get,
we got this.
- Aw.
- Do you, 100% hater-proof, a'ight?
You?
- Thank you. - 'Cause you are hater-proof.
- That's right. - Is she not hater-proof
or what?
Is he not hater-proof? - Thank you, thank you.
- One for you.
- No doubt. - Thank you.
- Latifah's in the house! - I made it to the couch,
oh man! - Latifah's on the couch!
It's do it, it's do it!
(all laugh)
- [Narrator] She even earned herself a star
on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006,
and won the lifetime achievement award
at the 2021 BET Awards.
- How do you feel about the state of hip hop right now
as far as female rappers?
Who are you feeling and how do you feel
about all the explicit lyrics
geared towards women right now?
- I mean, I've never been down with all of the misogyny,
I mean, that's why I made
"U.N.I.T.Y." - You know?
- Who are you calling a bitch, you know what I mean?
So, but to me, that's my way of answering back those things.
I mean, I feel like it's important
that the female rappers that are out
represent, you know what I mean?
And put it down.
For ladies, we got to,
my thing is, we can't really criticize the guys
if we don't get ourselves together.
That's why I made records like "Ladies First,"
just to boost
our self-esteem - - Yeah.
- Boost our morality, for ourselves.
So, I mean, that's always,
if we could keep the balance then we all right.
But if it starts going too much to like negative stuff,
then I feel like we really not helping the music.
(upbeat music)
You could be any kind of woman,
there are all kinds of women.
I'm a bitch, I'm a mother, I'm a child, I'm a lover.
I mean, that's who we are.
We can be any kind of woman we wanna be.
And it's even more fun to be versatile like that
and be able to flip
and be one when you need to be.
Sometimes you need to be a bitch in this business,
and it's not,
I made a record called "Who You Calling a Bitch?"
But it's not so much someone calling you that,
it's sometimes you to be strong with people.
You have to be firm with them.
And they may say you're being bitchy,
but you have to be like that in this business
because it is a business.
And whenever there's money involved,
like there is in the music business,
sometimes people try to take advantage of you
or try to run over you.
And there are a lot of egos in this business.
So sometimes you gotta
go head to head with people
and show them, "Hey, I'mma hold my ground."
You're not gonna push me back.
You're not gonna bully me.
You're not gonna treat me like a second-class citizen
because I'm a woman.
I deserve all the respect in the world
and I'll get it.
- [Narrator] There is no doubt that this cover girl
is still relevant to this day.
- Was like, "Look, women are queens."
My mother is a queen.
I'm a queen.
Women are queens just 'cause we women,
just 'cause we gotta have kids,
just 'cause we go through everything we go through
and we stand strong.
You know what I'm saying?
We are queens and we should be treated like it.
(upbeat music)
- [Narrator] Queen Latifah, where it all started.