Queen Latifah is a highly respected figure in hip-hop and made an indelible mark on the culture as one of the first commercially successful female MCs. with hit songs like ‘U.N.I.T.Y.’ and ‘Weekend Love.’ The lyricist (real name Dana Owens) is considered one of the Queens of Rap.
The New Jersey lyricist laid the blueprint for female rappers with her debut album, All Hail the Queen, in 1989 and has been supportive of all her fellow female counterparts in the culture ever since. From Missy Elliott to Lil Kim and Monie Love, Owens has never been a hated individual.
Last year, the Grammy-winning female rapper and Oscar-nominated actor received a Kennedy Centre Honour in Washington, DC and continues to be venerated by her peers. However, she is not just an acclaimed celebrity but also a fun-loving, wholesome woman.
In a 2019 sit down with Savannah Guthrie of the Today Show, Latifah spoke about finding her confidence, her late mother, and revealed her real name and even named her favourite karaoke song.
Speaking about boosting her self-esteem as a young woman, when asked if she was always confident, Owens responded, “Absolutely not, but I definitely had a mother who tried to put as much confidence in me as she could, and my father did as well by not necessarily treating me as a girl in that ‘Boys can do this and girls do that.'”
Opening up about when she suddenly found her confidence, the Jersey native detailed, “I think performing was one of those things for me. I think that that first school play, when I got a standing ovation, that was something that awakened a feeling in me, and I was like, ‘I like being able to do that!'”
Switching to a more light-hearted topic, Guthrie asked the ‘Ladies First’ musician what her karaoke song of choice is. After briefly laughing and pondering, Owens replied, “I think it would have to be some Bon Jovi!” She then began belting out the 1986 anthem ‘You Give Love a Bad Name’. She then jokingly stated, “It sounds even better when I’m drunk!”
During the interview, Owens also revealed that if she was sent to jail she would call Johnny Cochran to bail her out. You can watch the entire Today Show interview with Queen Latifah in the video below.
