By Jae-Ha Kim
Cleveland Plain Dealer
April 4, 1999
In her first book, rap star-turned-actress Queen Latifah, candidly writes about her steady rise to fame, her close-knit family and and how she treated her grief with alcohol and drugs after her brother died in a motorcycle accident.
At 173 very short pages (the type is huge and the margins generous), readers are entertained and, to a certain extent, enlightened. But they never get the feeling that they have gotten to know the artist. Latifah, 29, said she is too young for an autobiography and that Ladies First: Revelations of a Strong Woman is intended to be an inspirational book.
While the book isn’t as eloquent as her rhyming skills, Latifah proves to be a congenial author who relates tidbits about her life in a straightforward manner without preaching or making excuses for any mistakes she made.
She writes: “I am not a psychologist … 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 . .. I am a child of God. I am a queen. A queen is a queen when riding high, and when clouded in disgrace, shame or sorrow, she has dignity. Being a queen has very little to do with exterior things. It is a state of mind. And with God as the center of your life, you can never be dethroned.”
Born Dana Elaine Owens, she renamed herself Queen Latifah a decade ago when she embarked on her hip-hop career. At 19, Latifah was the first female solo rap artist to have a major-label record deal. Four years later, she had crossed over into acting with roles in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” and her own Fox sitcorn, “Living Single.”
Not too shabby for a former Burger King employee who used to hide her uniform in a backpack before she hit the New York club scene. But as her celebrity rose, so too did her tolerance for misperceptions about her personal life.
“There’s still all kind of speculation about my sexuality, and quite frankly I’m getting a little fired of it,” she writes. “My ploy to get the media off track didn’t work. It seems that in this country, sexuality is never a non-issue. Rather, it is always the issue … But it’s insulting when someone asks, ‘Are you gay?’ A woman cannot be strong, outspoken, competent at running her own business, handle herself physically, play very convincing roles in a movie, know what she wants — and go for it — without being gay? Come on.”
In case ,you haven’t figured it out– no, she’s not gay.
It would be interesting to read another book by Queen Latifah, maybe in 10 or 20 years when she has lived a little more.
