Queen Latifah

Dana Owens (born March 18, 1970), better known as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper from the early and mid 1990s. Her debut, All Hail the Queen (1989) was critically acclaimed as one of the best hip hop albums of all time. This was followed by Nature of a Sista[?], another well-reviewed album. After that, Latifah began working on Living Single[?], a FOX sitcom. She was also arrested in possession of a small amount of marijuana and a gun. In 1992, her brother died in a car accident and Latifah released an album dedicated to him, Black Reign[?], which was a hit partly because of a hit single, U.N.I.T.Y.[?]. In 2002 she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Matron "Mama" Morton in the musical "Chicago".

Latifah means "delicate" and "sensitive" in Arabic. She was given this nickname at the age of eight by her black Muslim cousin.