Queen Latifah was born Dana Elaine Owens to a working class family in Newark, New Jersey in 1970. She began singing in elementary school, but became immersed in the New Jersey rap scene while playing on her high school basketball team. Her stage name of Latifah was given to her by her favorite cousin when she was a small child; Latifah means "kind" in Arabic. In the late 1980’s Latifah rose to prominence as a member of the Flavor Unit, a rap crew managed by acclaimed beatsmith DJ Mark the 45 King.

DJ Mark - a prominent producer known for sampling old, obscure 45 RPM records in his beats - liked Latifah’s style, and used his industry connections to sign Latifah to independent label Tommy Boy Records in the early 1989. Latifah produced two albums on Tommy Boy, 1989’s All Hail the Queen and 1991’s Nature of a Sista. Her early records were noted for their directness and feminist leanings, with tracks like "Ladies First" and "Latifah’s Had it Up 2 Here" becoming moderate hits on Billboard’s rap and dance charts.

Though Latifah continued to record on Motown throughout the rest of 1990’s (releasing Black Reign in 1993 and Order in the Court in 1998), her career as a vocalist began to take a backseat to her acting aspirations. Queen Latifah’s appearances in a number of movies throughout the nineties (including 1996 drama Set It Off and 1999 thriller The Bone Collector) eventually led her to a starring role in a 2002 adaptation of the satirical Broadway musical Chicago. Since Chicago Latifah has focused primarily on her acting career; her most recent movie was 2007’s Life Support, a drama about an HIV-positive woman. Life Support has received largely positive reviews, nabbing Latifah both a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination.

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