The objectification of females is not a good thing! Not every rapper does this, but when the lyrics focus solely on the strip club, 'poppin' bottles' and how many girls they can 'tap,' it distorts what kids are learning. I think if there was more of a female presence in hip hop we could break up the monotony. It's all about balance.
— Queen Latifah
Sometimes you do have to bank on yourself. You do have to believe in your ideas enough to really get out there and fight for it despite what people think of some young kids from the hood.
My legs are nice, my lips are shapely, and my breasts are pretty. They popped up when I was 11 and they weren't small then. I was teased, but now those kids wish they had what I have!
I clean up really well. I can get dolled up.
I'm cool with myself. If I can't have the body of Angie Bassett, so be it.
I am a strong woman with or without this other person, with or without this job, and with or without these tight pants.
I totally want, like, 18 babies.
Beauty is not just a white girl. It's so many different flavors and shades.
I feel like I've set the example for loving your body no matter what size it is, but I also can set the example for being healthy as well.
My house borders horse farms, and I can look out my window and see the horses and the new colts. It's really peaceful.
When my body feels good, I feel more energized and alive, and that's sexy. I'm taking care of this body God gave me.
I wish every woman would love herself and embrace what she was given naturally.
There are times you can't really see or even feel how sweet life can be. Hopefully its mountains will be higher than its valleys are deep. I know things that are broken can be fixed. Take the punch if you have to, hit the canvas and then get up again. Life is worth it.
I'm not one of those people who wake up chatting. I usually don't want to speak for the first 10 or 20 minutes. And I don't really want you to talk to me either!
Bowling, I like bowling. I've been getting into this bowling thing. It's kinda fun.
I'd say, if you want to be an artist, start with your art; start with making great music and it will, hopefully, eventually cut through all of the nonsense that is out there.
There were musicians that influenced me, but they weren't all women. Teena Marie was a big influence because she wrote and produced her own music, which let me know that women could write and produce their own music, which was an empowering moment for me.
I want to see 10 female rappers getting regular rotation. It can't be all about a man's opinion.
Having Black hair is unique in that Black women change up styles a lot. You can walk down one street block in New York City and see 10 different hairstyles that Black women are wearing: straight curls, short cuts, braids - we really run the gamut.
When I'm wearing too-high heels and swaying my hips, I do that Sharon Stone kind of thing - she has the sexiest walk, a New York cool thing that throws you back.
I often find it's just the confidence that makes you sexy, not what your body looks like. It's how you feel about yourself that makes you sexy.
I often go to bed in my birthday suit. But I like teddies and cute little undies that match. I like a sexy bra and panty set, or little shorts.
I have always felt strongly about empowering women. I'm living proof that, with confidence and by believing in yourself, you can accomplish any goal.
I got a few marriage proposals in my 20s. I just wasn't ready. I just knew if I committed, I would've wound up doing something wrong, messing it up. I still felt like I had some living to do.
I like Pirate's Booty. Prunes and olives, too. I love hummus. I can eat that until I die. I tend to eat mostly organic food.
I've been giving back since I was a teen, handing out turkeys at Thanksgiving and handing out toys at toys drives for Christmas. It's very important to give back as a youth. It's as simple as helping an old lady across the street or giving up your seat on the bus for someone who is pregnant.
I love riding, even if it's just my Vespa. You just zip and do your thing. I find there's a different awareness when I ride; it connects me to my senses and to God.
Most people don't have so much talent that they can become a success all their own. We all need people to help us and lift us up.
I am not one to turn down macaroni and cheese, even late at night. I love Italian food. I love pasta... A refrigerator full of water and Gatorade? Honey, that's just not gonna happen.
To me, doing a gay pride show is one of the most fun things. My first show that paid more than $10,000 was in a gay club on New Year's Eve in San Francisco.
When it came time to be a professional rapper, I wouldn't sign anything without reading it. There was no way I was going to have people make decisions for me or wake up one day and find that I was broke because I never bothered to read a contract.
I always loved all kinds of music. I would watch musicals a lot as a kid, on TV, watch the Fred Astaire movies. I'd watch 'The Wizard of Oz.' I was a big Jerry Lewis fan, and they'd have these big bands and someone singing - some siren, or some guy singing some gorgeous song. I was always enamored of that style of music.
To me, hip hop will never be right until female rappers have a stronger voice in it.
I would like - either as an actor, or producer or even director - to do something sci-fi or action-related. I like sci-fi, always have, 'Star Trek' and 'Star Wars' and all that stuff.
Dolly Parton made me chicken and dumplings. That Tennessee woman can burn some pots! And we know that I am not necessarily shy to a fork!
People have often asked me, do I want to be the next Oprah - there is no such thing. Oprah is Oprah, and she's still being Oprah if anybody hasn't noticed... what I bring to TV is myself... I really think there's space in daytime TV for a whole bunch of fun, some amazing music, and some heart.
I have my dad's shape. No booty.
As a teenager, I had big breasts for my age, and my friends cracked on me a lot.
I've hosted the Soul Train awards, the American Music Awards... and I had my own talk show. So if I can't host by now, what the hell can I do?
I want to have and adopt. I always have; ever since I was 18, I wanted a baby, and I wanted to have and adopt because there are a lot of kids. I want to adopt an American baby though, you know what I mean, no offense. Just because there are so many kids here that need our help.
I would say I'm voluptuous. Statuesque. Definitely curvaceous.
I don't eat bad food. I probably just eat too much food, and I think a lot of people do.
I'm a sucker for a man who cries. It just gets to me.
If I ran into a 19-year-old version of myself, I'd just tell her to live, full out. I might also tell her to go ahead and have a few babies and not worry about the timing of it.
I love Ralph Lauren, just as a designer. I still think he could make some better sizes with his clothes, but I like the idea of his classic American style.
There's no way I can represent for everyone. I can't represent for all women or all big women or all black women. It's important for people not to make celebrities their source of who they should be in life. I can't take on the pressure of being perfect. Nobody is.
I don't have to take a trip around the world or be on a yacht in the Mediterranean to have happiness. I can find it in the little things, like looking out into my backyard and seeing deer in the fields.
If my brother and I wanted money in our pockets, we had to get jobs - my first was at 15, at Burger King. We had to come up with ways to create an income.
If you try to follow everyone else's mold, you'll probably fail at some point because God created us uniquely for a reason.
I'm proud of everything I do, but I think I'm the most happy about becoming a rapper. It was my entrance into everything. That helped me get into acting.
