On Monday night, Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah, Lil’ Kim, and Salt-n-Pepa featuring DJ Spinderella were honoured at the VH1 Hip-Hop Honours’ All Hail the Queens. The night was hosted by Eve and payed homage “to the female pioneers, trailblazers, and trend-setters” of hip-hop and featured distinguished guests from the hip-hop community.
Many artists used their speeches and time on stage to address the ongoing issue of racism in America and the Black Lives Matter movement. Black Lives Matter Founders, Alicia Garza and Darnell Moore opened the evening’s proceedings with a speech explaining what Black Lives Matter is about and how music helps to bring people together and heal, before bringing out Missy Elliot.
Unfortunately Missy herself didn’t perform; however, several other artists including Remy Ma, Trina, Nelly Furtado, Eve, Monica, Fantasia and Tweet all stepped up and performed some of Missy’s songs in her stead. Pharrell Williams, Timbaland, and Busta Rhymes all shared messages of support and love for Missy. One of the more touching moments amongst many that evening was Missy dedicating her award to one of the true pioneers who couldn’t be there in person; the late, great Aaliyah.
Queen Latifah performed twice during the night, joined the first time by Da Brat and Monie Love and later in the show performing U.N.I.T.Y.
Latifah took some time out of her acceptance speech to address the racial tension brewing in the United States. “Listen we all know the world, that our world, is really tense right now,” she began. “I’m hoping that we can somehow manage to channel all of these emotions that we have in a positive way.”
Naughty by Nature, who have collaborated with Queen Latifah a few times, stopped by to honour her with Hip-Hop Hooray while Common was given the opportunity of introducing Queen Latifah, also taking some time to address Black Lives Matter movement. “I also want to take this moment to honour all the sisters who have been on the front lines in our ongoing movement for justice. I’m talking about Fannie Lou Hamer, Diane Nash, Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, Shirley Chisholm, I’m talking about the Black Lives Matter founders.”
Lil’ Kim performed a variety of her tracks alongside Dej Loaf and Rich Homie Quan. Kim went on to perform the everlasting Get Money by Junior Mafia and The Notorious B.I.G. For Biggie’s verse she decided to hand it over to Rich Homie Quan, who straight up butchered it, embarrassingly forgetting the words.
Quan seemed to be prepared, sporting Biggie’s idiosyncratic Coogi sweater, but once he opened his mouth he merely mumbled a few words and then went quiet before awkwardly ad-libbing his way through the verse. Fair to say Twitter let him know their thoughts on the situation.
When Puffy pull up on Rich Homie Quan back stage pic.twitter.com/fxB7Zw1XHC
— Lil Baddie Vert. (@ReemRozay) July 12, 2016
Lil’ Kim was also honoured with performances from French Montana, Teyana Taylor, Lil Mama and The LOX, among others. P. Diddy made a surprise appearance and delivered a speech in honour of Kim before rolling out a giant birthday cake and leading the crowd in a huge Happy Birthday in her honour.
The night was topped off by a speech by First Lady Michelle Obama, who congratulated the winners in a “Shout out to my girls”.
All Hail the Queens was overall an amazing way to honour some of hip-hop’s greatest female artists and a step forward in acknowledging an ever-growing voice in the genre. Hopefully this is the first of many honouring the many female champions of hip-hop moving forward.
Image: Newsweek
The composer of Grammy Award winning musical Hamilton Lin-Manuel Miranda will release a mixtape featuring Chance The Rapper, Sia, Busta Rhymes, Usher, Ben Folds, Regina Spektor and Queen Latifah. Unofficially known as The Hamilton Mixtape, it will include remixes, covers and other tracks inspired by the musical.
Miranda spoke to Vanity Fair about the exciting project, explaining some of the important details. “People are coming out of the woodwork, knocking on the door. Half the songs are cover versions of songs in the show, and the others are interpolations- we’ll take some of this, some of that, and make something new out of it.”
Although Miranda stars in the musical as the title role of the show, he will not be featured on the tape. “I’m not going to be on it because for me, the goal is to keep this inspired by the original.”
Hamilton won Best Musical Theatre Album at the Grammy Awards two weeks ago (during which Miranda rapped his acceptance speech) and performed at the show. According to Playbill, the cast album also claimed the top spot on the rap and cast album Billboard charts.
“I really wanted the hip hop community to embrace Hamilton because it’s such a love letter to them,” Miranda said.
Watch clips from the musical below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOdWU-EnOEk
Image: Stereogum
In a genre that is filled with comparisons to yesteryear and an endless discussion on who is deemed ‘The Greatest’, it is refreshing to see some female MC’s be thrust into the conversation. Soulful songstress/rapper Lauryn Hill was recently named as one of the 10 greatest rappers of all time by Billboard, joining the esteemed company of Kendrick Lamar, Biggie Smalls, and Jay-Z, and now Queen Latifah, one of the stalwarts of the genre in her own right, has taken the opportunity to laud the accomplishments of Nicki Minaj, who continues to push the boundaries and fly the flag for equality.
At a recent recording of the VH1 Big in 2015 With Entertainment Weekly ceremony, Queen Latifah was quick to point out the influence that Nicki has made on not only the genre, but the culture and society around her.
“You’ve become an inspiration to women everywhere. I love how you’re never afraid to speak your mind. You’re a strong woman, you refuse to be backed into a corner.”
“You’ve established yourself as one of the greats. No one can take that away from you.”
Nicki Minaj has clearly become a champion of the cause, from calling out reporters for their offensive lines of questioning, to delivering a heartfelt and tearjerking tribute to Maya Angelou and her famous Still I Rise poem. Her efforts have not only been noticed by Queen Latifah; Minaj has been rewarded in the form of a nomination for TIME Person of the Year.
It’s times like this when we have to take a step back and realise the sheer talent of the female MC’s that are currently amongst our generation; Nicki is leading the charge while up and comers such as Dej Loaf and Rapsody are bringing their own unique skillsets, sounds and personas to a genre that is still in desperate need of a greater female presence.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvN5h9BE444]
Let me preface this by saying that I have not seen Bessie, I probably won’t watch Bessie, in fact I doubt I will watch any of the programs nominated for the 2015 Emmy’s Television Movie category. Does that mean I can’t unflinchingly demand that Queen Latifah win the award for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or a movie? Of course I can, even if I’m completely unqualified to do so. Does anyone actually think the right person wins for these awards anyway?
It’s lucky I’m not too worried about being cool, because otherwise I would be tentative to state that I only very recently encountered Latifah’s music career. Until a few months ago, to me, she was just that lady from that terrible Jimmy Fallon movie Taxi. I was then introduced to her 1993 classic Black Reign, and then I realised why she’s famous. Hint: it wasn’t for her performance in Bringing Down the House.
Now none of this is to deride her acting career, because she’s actually matured into quite a talented thespian with over 60 credits to her name, including some pretty decent performances. And from all accounts, she kills it in Bessie. But finally with some progress towards diversity in film and television, and I’m not saying we’re even close to equity in that regard, but with a show like Empire crushing television ratings and getting nominated, wouldn’t it be apt to reward one of hip hop’s pre-eminent MCs, someone who paved the way not just in hip hop culture, which is everywhere, but for women in the entertainment industry?
It’s not a brave statement to say that women and racial minorities should be treated equally by all industries, especially in entertainment, which is pervasive and helps to shape our perspectives in everyday life. And that’s not what this article is about, I don’t want to come across as a condescending white male who’s ‘throwing the little guys a bone’, like the Oscars seem to do every few years, and how the film industry only seems to respect films about the black experience that are torturous or historical enough to make them feel guilty. I just really like Queen Latifah.
If you need any convincing of Latifah’s dopeness, then let’s begin:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8cHxydDb7o]
The saxophone opening gets me every single time. Try to listen to this song and not have the chorus stuck in your head all day. Seriously, even thinking about the song I’m repeating “you-enn-aye-tee-why das a unity” in my head over and over again. U.N.I.T.Y was Latifah’s biggest hit and even nabbed her a grammy in 1995. At a time when hip hop wasn’t exactly known for it’s propensity to be respectful towards women, wait, has hip hop ever been known for that? Anyway, Queen Latifah was a badass feminist of the highest order, standing up for what she believed in and promoting a positive message in a medium that many at the time considered volatile and perverse.
It’s not just her ability to interweave a political message into a catchy tune. She can also capture a feeling, and express it with some pretty fresh rhymes.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkGY5EzA-h4]
Just Another Day was another track on Black Reign to receive a music video, and thank god. That outfit should be immortalised somehow. Seriously, that belongs in a museum. Just Another Day has to be in the all-time list of chill driving songs, up there with It Was a Good Day and Gin and Juice.
We haven’t even mentioned her ability to craft those ‘pretend you hate them but actually secretly love them’ pop songs either. You know the ones, those TLC, Natalie Imbruglia, ’90s jams that you sing when you’re driving and hope nobody sees you. Superstar is pretty damn good at filling you up with that poppy nostalgia. Oh, and if it’s not good with Queen Latifah, then it’s incredibly bad:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umELmojqsX0]
So now we know what inspired Shaggy‘s career, and don’t try that “it wasn’t me” bullshit, we know it was you Weekend Love.
For those of you that already love Queen Latifah, I hope you had a nice trip down memory lane, and for those of you that didn’t, you’re welcome. Oh, and after she wins the Emmy for Bessie, Y’all need to update your EGOT pools, because she’s coming for that Oscar, and the Tonys? Pssh, the one woman Black Reign stage-play that I may or may not be penning as we speak will sweep those goddamn things.
Gone are the days of hip hop stars having but one job title. Wikipedia any rapper today and you can almost guarantee they’ll have some combination of rapper, songwriter, producer, entrepreneur and, a lot of the times, actor. As can be expected with most things in hip hop, there are both excellent and godawful examples of this. We’re breaking them down into best and worst, starting with the Mount Rap-More of shitty acting.
Xzibit
Oh boy, has X been in some real stinkers. Aside from appearing on Pimp My Ride and loudly giving out car makeovers that push the notion of poor taste to its absolute grotesque nadir, he has appeared as an FBI agent in the much-reviled X-Files: I Want To Believe as well as The Rock’s juvenile corrections facility team assistant football coach in Gridiron Gang.
He also appeared in xXx: State Of The Union, the more atrocious sequel to an already highly atrocious Vin Diesel-helmed original. His worst turn by far though has got to be alongside Busta Rhymes in Full Clip.
Ugh, look at that tagline, on a movie poster that my grandmother could cobble together on Photoshop given enough time. You don’t even have to see it to know that it would have taken the swiftest route to DVD possible and probably can’t be purchased outside of a $1.99 clearance bin anywhere.
Even in the one good film he’s been allowed anywhere near, 8 Mile, he enjoyed approximately two minutes of screen time as a homophobic factory worker who gets his ass lyrically beat down by Eminem. Enough already, X.
Ja Rule
Aside from making an entire career out of looking like somebody slammed a door on Tupac Shakur‘s face and bastardising his sound with none of the street cred or intelligence to back it up, Ja Rule has also enjoyed quite the acting career.
His first role in a blockbuster was as the token black street racer in the original Fast And The Furious. He also enjoyed minor but somehow terrible roles in movies for people who don’t like movies, such as Assault On Precinct 13 and Scary Movie 3. He also had a prominent role alongside our Lord and Saviour, Steven Seagal in Half Past Dead.
Steven Seagal movies, perfecting the ridiculous title/tagline combination since the 80s
This is a movie so bad that Steven Seagal’s do-rag is the second best actor in it. Ja plays the wisecracking black cop to Steve’s tough guy straight man cop. It’s… awful, but I will never forgive him for using my beloved New Jersey (now Brooklyn) Nets as a plot device in The Cookout. EVER.
That his character’s name was, in all sincerity, Bling Bling/Percival Assmackey is not even the dumbest thing about this aqua-dump of a movie. Christ.
Queen Latifah
Speaking of The Cookout, here was the woman in charge of producing that atrocity. Coming from an amazing background championing the seldom heard female voice in hip hop, Queen Latifah proceeded to move into the movie business, starring and producing in several films that are probably the reason aliens have made no attempt to contact us thus far.
These include the aforementioned The Cookout, the reprehensible follow-up to Barbershop, Barbershop 2: Back In Business (a colon in a movie title has to be a trigger warning that it’s awful, right?), its even worse spinoff Beauty Shop, Taxi alongside the serially un-funny Jimmy Fallon and the vomit-y Last Holiday.
It’s like the formula behind every single one of her movies is just to take the sass and turn that shit up to deafening levels, by God. I mean, she was admittedly pretty damn good in Chicago and Hairspray, but it’s probably no coincidence that these were both musicals that would showcase her obvious talents much better, and neither make up for the sheer horror that is Bringing Down The House.
If you look into Steve Martin’s eyes, you can almost see him wondering how his career ended up here.
And to top it all off, she had the audacity to use my Nets AGAIN, as an EVEN BIGGER PLOT DEVICE alongside Common in the godawful romantic comedy, Just Wright.
THEY WERE ALREADY TERRIBLE ENOUGH, WHY CAN’T YOU JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE!
DMX
DMX is to crazy what Biggie is to hip hop, simply transcendent, as we’ve detailed before. It’s no surprise that people in Hollywood took one look at this chrome-domed ball of rage and thought that there was an action movie career just waiting to burst forth and complement his angry, angry work in the field of hip hop.
And sure, he shared some screen time with Jet Li in Romeo Must Die, which wasn’t outright dreadful. But the Li/DMX tag team followed up abominably in Cradle 2 The Grave and from there it was pretty much all straight downhill. Apparently Ja Rule turned down the coveted role of being Steven Seagal’s (sans do-rag) African American sidekick in Exit Wounds, so DMX stepped up to the plate… and struck the fuck out.
The best thing from that movie was the unintentional comedy of a DMX cover of the Bill Withers classic, Ain’t No Sunshine (spoiler: it’s terrible). DMX’s last eight films have all been released direct-to-DVD, a streak that’s up there with Tara Reid’s. They’re titled things like Death Toll, Last Hour, Blame It On The Hustle, The Bleeding and the surely amazing Lockjaw: Rise of the Kulev Serpent.
If you only see one movie where DMX shoots a giant snake in the face with a rocket launcher this summer, let it be this one. Give the man an Oscar, immediately.
Up next, we look at the best of rappers turned actors…