User:Scholarlycchistorian/Queen Latifah

Challenging Eurocentric Standards
Queen Latifah has demonstrated several forms of activism over her lifetime, challenging Eurocentric ideals and representing the black, female body. An initial sign of the beginning of her resistance to these Eurocentric standards started with her name. Her entire name was self-chosen, and while ‘Latifah’ came from an Arabic book, ‘Queen’ originated from her desire to create a strong, black identity, which was fueled by her mother, Rite Owens, who gave her the foundation to develop into a self-proclaimed Queen

Afrocentric Queendom is a concept that Queen Latifah uses to demonstrate her resistance to Eurocentric standards. This term, Afrocentric Queendom, refers to African centered customs that also incorporate female empowerment. Eurocentric constructions are challenged by this concept because Afrocentrism deconstructs oppressive environments, essentially disrupting centralized European spaces. The notion of the term Queen was intentionally crafted by Latifah, redefining what plus size, black women were in society. The notion of the term Queen was intentionally crafted by Latifah, redefining what plus size, black women were in society. Over the twentieth century, the term ‘mammy’ coincided with black women because many were left to take care of white children. This term stripped many black women around this time of their name, forcing them to adopt the new identity of ‘mammy.' Following the emergence of this term, African American women have been stereotyped as mothering figures, while also signaling a loss of identity. This is what Queen Latifah aimed to avoid when creating her stage name, with the intention of opposing the Eurocentric construction of the term mammy. The sole idea of her choosing her name imitates power and promotes strength within herself.

Latifah also rejects Eurocentric standards by embracing Afrocentric ideals and incorporating this concept within her work. She claims that Afrocentricity is a great way of living, creating a sense of pride around her heritage. Within her music, Latifah incorporates Afrobeats and language while also centering black women within her lyrics and visuals. This can be clearly identified in her  1989 ‘Ladies First’ music video, to where South African culture is present in her work, which included Afrocentric visuals and clothes that align culturally with South Africa.

The idea of the black, female body has been criticized and mocked, as well as being imitated over the past couple of decades by celebrities. Queen Latifah, a plus sized, black woman has continued to challenge Eurocentric standards by advocating for body positivity and incorporating her size as a part of her music identity within her early Hip Hop career. Her goal was to politicize and posterize her body to influence young, black girls that all bodies should be accepted, especially in her male dominated field at the time. Throughout her early career, Latifah challenged the Eurocentric mythology of the inferiority of black, female bodies, by creating a marketable figure that was respectable within the Hip Hop industry in the mid 1990s.

Queen Latifah didn’t always center Africanness around her career, eventually embracing more Black American customs, while not completely abandoning African ideals. This was present through her physical appearance and her music. In her 1993 rap song, U.N.I.T.Y. she incorporates more jazz and soul sounds into her music, as well as empowering lyrics. Her lyrics address concerns regarding harassment and domestic violence within the black community, as well as lyrics to uplift black women such as, “U.N.I.T.Y, love a black woman from infinity to infinity.”

Flavor Unit Records
Latifah also founded a production company, which was referred to as Flavor Unit Records, eventually Flavor Unit Entertainment, co-launching it in 1995 with her business partner Shakim Compere. Near the creation of this label, she helped several artists create their music, such as Daddy D. Daddy D was Latifah’s first artist to create a single with. Her purpose was to create a multimedia company that operates at full service. Several music artists at the time wanted to join Queen Latifah’s label because they easily identified her success, from an artist herself, to a self made label chief. The label remained quite small in the nineties, but eventually gained traction as Queen Latifah gained more attention. While her record label helped several artists start up their career, she remained at Motown Records for her own benefit.

Portrayal Of Characters
Queen Latifah expanded her career from music, branching out to acting, as well as producing. Her first role that she took on was in the movie Jungle Fever, which was released in 1991, where she performed among several significant black actors, such as Samuel L. Jackson andHalle Berry. Her role in this  movie was not major, but displayed her overall talent enough in the film. She later moved to entertainment television, starring and co-producing certain episodes of the show Living Single.

Living Single
Queen Latifah was the star of her own sitcom, which followed her character, Khadijah James, and three of her black, female friends. This sitcom that aired for three years aimed to highlight the Black American experience by demonstrating Black excellence. Laitfah’s character is described to embody what black womanhood was in the early nineties. Her character was well rounded and represented the idea of a ‘girl boss’ was. With this all black cast, the possibilities for characters to be presented in a variety of ways were endless. Some characters, such as Maxine Shaw, played by Erika Alexander, were depicted as lawyers, while others were depicted as wealthy, such as Regine Hunter, played by Kim Fields. Khadijah was everything from a business owner, to a songwriter, to a friend, all while maintaining the lead role in the show. Depth and duality behind black characters on sitcoms within the nineties was not very common outside of Black Entertainment Television (BET), so it was quite significant to television when Queen Latifiah took on such an important role. With the help of Queen Latifah, Yvette Lee Bowser, the executive producer and creator, was actively changing the perception of Black Americans, painting a new light on the Black experience.

Through her performance through the show, Latifah showed the complexity of Black womanhood successfully. There were several parallels that were identified between Living Single and Queen Latifah’s life, such as how both her and her character both had to navigate a male dominated industry while trying to be successful. Their personalities also align, both being outspoken, confident, and driven. Latifah realistically depicted a black woman on television by simply acting as herself on Living Single.

Early Influence of Sexuality In Entertainment
Queen Latifah’s sexuality has alway come into question through her on- screen performances. In one of her 1996 films, Set It Off (film), Latifah takes on a more masculine role. Cleopatra Sims (Cleo), Latifah's character, can be described as a butch, lesbain bank robber, which highlighted her sexuality. She was so successful while playing this masculine role, that rumors about her sexuality started spreading. In the early stages of her career, Latifah chose not to address the rumors regarding her sexuality, letting the public categorize her in their own way. Queen Latifah’s ambiguity played to her strengths when acting, allowing her to have versatile roles and not become constrained to certain acting roles because of her off screen sexuality. This can be identified in many of her later films in her career, playing a range of either oversexualized charaters or sexually muted characters. The distance Queen Latifah created from assumptions about her sexuality in her early career excluded her from any queer discourse throughout the nineties. Her involvement in offhanded politics and pro-black work productions helped define her work, while her sexuality did not affect her work, early on.