My mom was my main influence growing up, and Phylicia Rashad reminded me a lot of my mother, just the way she handled certain things, she was... not soft-spoken but smooth-spoken. Just very calm, cool, collected about things.
— Queen Latifah
You do silly things for love sometimes and not-so-smart things for love.
I do feel like I have a direct connection with God for some reason; always have since I was a little kid - I would talk to God, talk to the sky.
I know a lot of people who really aren't beautiful because their attitudes are very nasty... Whether I make the 50 most beautiful list or not, I'm always going to feel like I'm number one most beautiful to myself... I get that from my mom, and my daddy and my friends who raised me.
Racism is ignorant. And it's stupid. And it's old. And it's played out. So beat it already with that, you know what I mean? 'Let's all get along' - I'm so tired of that damn sentence, but it's true.
My mother wouldn't allow me to speak slang when I was growing up. But when I got outside, around my friends, it was 'Yo' and 'That's the joint' and 'Yo, what's up?' So I had my game for my friends and my game for my mom.
Be bold, be brave enough to be your true self.
Fear can be good when you're walking past an alley at night or when you need to check the locks on your doors before you go to bed, but it's not good when you have a goal and you're fearful of obstacles. We often get trapped by our fears, but anyone who has had success has failed before.
When I was growing up, there were so many musicals you could watch. I like the fantasy of musicals and I love music.
I've never wanted to be put into a box, not musically.
As a rapper, you sort of act in music videos and in the persona you adopt onstage. You kinda have to put yourself out there and be courageous even to be a rapper. So, to step into acting was not that difficult a transition to make.
We ignore our feelings a lot, I realize. Many of us have to... until they really bite us in the butt.
I was not born a size 2. I'm not skinny, period. I'm not willing to sleep with the director or step on somebody else's neck to get the job.
I'm probably proudest of being able to lift a lot of us out of the 'hood. That's the biggest thing, that I've been able to employ a lot of people and give them opportunities.
Two records put me over the top with hip-hop. One of them was 'Planet Rock,' and the other had no lyrics - it was called 'Numbers,' from a group called Kraftwerk. Every kid in the 'hood in New York and New Jersey was popping, locking, and breaking to that record. It was the hottest track on the street at the time.
I know people who are twice as creative as I am, twice as smart, but they didn't do anything because they feared going into a room and opening their mouths. My parents told me to truly accomplish things in my life, there would be times I would have to stand alone. It may be scary, but that's what it requires.
Business is fun. Controlling your own destiny is fun. Creating an idea and turning it into a movie; finding an artist and guiding their career and bringing them to some type of status - there's joy in that.
Yeah, I'm from Jersey; it's almost like I was automatically born a Nets fan.
A confident woman is a sexy woman, in my opinion. And I think guys find that to be the same way.
How many crossroads are you allowed to have in life? I seem to have a lot of crossroads. I think maybe I crossed back across the same road too often.
When I'm doing something I love, I can lose sleep. I can go and go and go and go. My work ethic is pretty intense. But when it comes to doing something that I don't love every day, I'm not very good at it. That's called work, and I don't like work that much.
I've never been the straight rapper that is going to stand in a cipher and battle all day. I started off battle rapping, but to me, making songs became more important than freestyles... I've met many rappers who can freestyle but can't make a record.
I've loved car racing all my life. I watch NASCAR regularly, and drag racing because we have Raceway Park in New Jersey. I think I got it from my father.
I promised my mom that if, after a year of putting 150 percent into my career it didn't work out, I would go back to school. I never did go back.
The movie I've seen a million times is 'Steel Magnolias,' directed by Herbert Ross, starring Sally Field and Julia Roberts.
I have a drum set in my dressing room. I play drums to relax and have some fun.
I want every day to be life for the living, not just traipsing through it existing. I'm just interested in life and the world and exploring.
I enjoy going to work and having a good time. It's tough when you got to work with people who just are in a bad mood all the damn time.
My mom has always been my champion. She was very smart and grounded. She said, 'Save your money. Pay your taxes. Don't put everything in one basket,' but she let me explore and be creative.
If we focus on our health, including our inner health, our self-esteem, and how we look at ourselves and our confidence level, we'll tend to be healthier people anyway, we'll tend to make better choices for our lives, for our bodies, we'll always be trying to learn more, and get better as time goes on.
I used to do school plays. I never really took any acting classes. I'm just a natural ham, I guess.
I don't feel like I need to share my personal life, and I don't care if people think I'm gay or not. Assume whatever you want. You do it anyway.
I learned early that I had to work harder than the white kids and harder than the boys.
I realized there was racism because people thought, 'Oh, if you like roll 'n' roll, that makes you like a white kid.'
I lost relatives to AIDS. A couple of my closest cousins, favorite cousins. I lost friends to AIDS, high school friends who never even made it to their 21st birthdays in the '80s. When it's that close to you, you can't - you know, you can't really deny it, and you can't run from it.
I think as far as the music industry is concerned, it's kind of been the wild, wild West in a way with the Internet, which is not necessarily a bad thing to me.
Church was a requirement - there was no choice in the matter; so was vacation bible school. Gospel has been in me since I was a kid.
Anyone who knows me knows that I'm way more of a joker than I am a serious person.
Award shows, like the Grammys, were tough on us early in hip-hop, not even televising our categories or splitting them up on best male or female or any of that. We had to earn them.
Lets be clear, Dolly Parton is a rapper. Somewhere before all the country, I don't know what happens up there in the mountains when you're growing up, but she has been spitting rhymes for a very long time - 50 years I'd say.
There was always music in our home. My mom and my dad loved music. I remember when we were kids we would have these great parties at the house with congas and bongos and African drums, and it was amazing. It wasn't until years later that I found out that they were actually Black Panther meetings.
There are a lot of people who helped make Queen Latifah who she is today. I don't forget, but a lot of people do and get big heads. My mom will make me walk the dogs or take out the trash when I go home. I'm not allowed to get a big head; I've still got to do the simple things in life.
There's the part of my life that the public and I share together. And there's the part that's mine to keep for myself. And that's mine. For me.
I support many organizations that I feel are doing the right thing, like Alonzo Mourning's foundation, Alicia Keys' foundation, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and other well-established foundations. I kick out a lot of time and money wherever I can.
I'm not the type that's going to sit and preach to people if they don't need it just because I've been around the block a few times.
When I was around 18, I looked in the mirror and said, 'You're either going to love yourself or hate yourself.' And I decided to love myself. That changed a lot of things.
To me, I always felt like I was carrying a torch for women of any size to be themselves - it doesn't matter whether you're a size 2 or a 22, just be who you are.
I came from a crew, and to me, all the guys I rapped with were better than me, so I was surprised when I was the breakout one. It was definitely a cool thing.
A lot of people are crazy, cruel and negative. They got a little too much time on their hands to discuss everybody else. I have a limited amount of energy to blow in a day. I'd rather read something that I like or watch a program I enjoy or ride my damn motorcycle or throw back a couple of shots of tequila with my friends.
I have to be realistic about what I can and can't do. So whatever I do has to really be worth it. I like to master the things I do.
