 "I
am not a psychologist or a sociologist," Queen Latifah points out. "I don't have
any degrees, and I'm not an expert on life. What I am is a young black woman from the
inner city who is making it, despite the odds, despite the obstacles I've had to face in
the lifetimes that have come my way." In Ladies First, she talks about the
importance of women making the move to be strong and self-reliant, using her own rise to
stardom as a rapper and actress as an example. The drive and ambition have been with her
since childhood: when she was very young and boys would ridicule her for wanting to play
basketball with them, she retorted, "I'm not a tomboy--I'm just an athlete."
Later, as a teenager, she would sneak out at night and go with friends to New York City to
explore the emerging hip-hop scene, eventually cutting her first single in 1987. She talks
about the choices she's made about drugs and sex and how she's learned as much from her
mistakes as from her successes. And she addresses, glancingly, the rumors about her
sexuality that have dogged her for years, and why she'd rather just ignore them: "I
want people to see me as someone who is proud and comfortable with who I am.... Be secure
in yourself. You don't need me--or any other public person, for that matter--to validate
you." That basic principle, applied to all aspects of life, is the core of Ladies
First. --Ron Hogan |