“First of all, let me teach you how to walk through Newark. Don’t say ‘New-work,’” quips Queen Latifah, playfully schooling me on the proper pronunciation of her hometown. “It’s just one syllable. Never get caught saying ‘New-work.’”
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The spirited polymath remains as sly and quick-witted as ever, nearly four decades after bursting onto the hip-hop scene in the late 1980s. More than three decades after delivering her seminal rallying cry, “U.N.I.T.Y.,” Latifah is channeling that same spirit of empowerment into giving back to the city that raised her. In her upcoming BET documentary, You Can Go Home Again — set to premiere Nov. 27 — the rap pioneer is in restoration mode, helping provide affordable housing for families in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey.
“I grew up in a very busy place where I got to experience jazz, gospel and rock and roll. I got to see hip-hop being born. I experienced love for the first time, death for the first time, danger and excitement in every possible way,” she recalls.
For Latifah, her commitment to uplifting her community comes at a crowning moment in her storied career. On Saturday (Nov. 14), she’ll be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a recipient of the Early Influence Award. She joins a star-studded class of musical luminaries, including Phil Collins, Celia Cruz, Sade, Oasis and Fela Kuti, alongside fellow hip-hop trailblazers Wu-Tang Clan and MC Lyte.
“There are so many people I carry in my heart and on my back,” she says. “The KRS-Ones of the world, the Public Enemys of the world — I’m not me without them. They showed us how to do it. They took us little baby acts on tour and taught us how to do things. I really appreciate them.”
Billboard spoke with Queen Latifah about the meaning of home, her upcoming documentary, and earning her place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
You’ve built an incredible legacy in entertainment, but now you’re helping families in Newark find a place to call home. When you think about everything you’ve accomplished, what makes this chapter of your life, particularly giving back, so meaningful to you?
I’ve always loved real estate and interior design. It’s always been something I’m into. So, to be able to see something go from an idea to actual brick and mortar, with people living there, is incredible. To see it come to fruition and know there are people who will be living in these apartments, getting up and going to work, who may work for BET or may be the next executive who gives me a job one day, that’s the whole goal.
I wanted to build things that I could live in. I wanted to build something that my mother would have been able to move into with me and my older brother while teaching, earning a teacher’s salary and trying to put two kids through school and college, without always having to worry about it. That’s why P&G has always been such a great collaborator. It’s been great being connected with them and doing business with them because everything we’ve done has always come back to the question: What would my mom need right now?
Procter & Gamble has always created something we would have needed growing up, like this Febreze connection. Throughout our long relationship, whenever I’ve wanted to do something that could positively impact the community, they’ve backed me 100%. These are the things I think about. When you’re connected to companies that really get it, you should go for it. This is something we went for, and they said, “Hey, why don’t we jump in with you on this?” Of course! Let’s do it. And we’ll continue to do that.
When you think of Newark, that’s obviously home to you. What does home mean to you today as a grown woman versus when you were growing up?
Growing up in Newark, it was a different place than it is right now. You don’t know the Newark I grew up in because the Newark I grew up in had a million people. It was a big metropolis and very multicultural. There were so many businesses, churches, festivals, music and so much power. My family was connected politically, whether it was running for mayor or supporting people running for local council positions. It was a giant community.
Now, there are several hundred thousand people in Newark, but when I was growing up, there were a million. It was a big city. I grew up in a very busy place where I got to experience jazz, gospel and rock and roll. I got to see hip-hop being born. I experienced love for the first time, death for the first time, danger and excitement in every possible way. I had a big family, so there were cookouts, barbecues, trips to the beach, going down to the shore, visiting lakes and doing things together as a family.
My first school plays and my first experiences taking chances all happened in Newark or the surrounding areas. And Newark had some of the best water you could drink! Newark’s water came from a place called The Watershed. The water was delicious. East Orange, not so much. But you could practically bottle Newark’s water when we were growing up.
The Newark I saw had so much more to it. It wasn’t just this “Newark, what exit?” kind of thing. My family grew up in North Newark, bordering the Italian neighborhood that people would later become familiar with through The Sopranos. But that was normal to us.
The Newark I grew up in had a large Puerto Rican community. We were all together. I knew how to throw a baseball, whistle and spit right. I knew there would be salsa music coming out of the windows on Saturday mornings and gospel on Sundays. There were fish fries on Fridays, fish and spaghetti. I know it sounds crazy, but fried fish with spaghetti? Those were my Friday nights.
There were local bars and so many places to experience life. There were sports everywhere, in every park. That’s why it’s so important for me to show a different side of Newark and all the talent that comes from there. It’s important for me to show the greatest sides of the Newark I grew up in, because I know they’re still there.
That’s why I come back home to Newark, East Orange, Irvington and Jersey City to invest. Because I know who’s from there. I’m from there. They produce Queen Latifahs. They produce Wayne Shorters. You have to come back home so you can help produce who’s coming next.
That’s a bar right there. Now, you’re being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. As a rapper from Jersey who helped break down those barriers, where does that honor rank among your accomplishments?
Whew. Wow. It’s pretty high up there, I must say. It’s interesting because, when we were growing up, being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame wasn’t even something we really thought about. It felt like they were missing the mark.
We made rock and roll, but we couldn’t get in. So, if there are no Black people in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, what kind of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame are you? It’s been amazing to watch them grow and change.The class I’m in, I’m being inducted with Celia Cruz, Sade, Luther Vandross, Phil Collins, Billy Idol, Wu-Tang [Clan], [MC] Lyte. You know what I’m saying? This is on another level.
Again, this isn’t something we thought we could achieve because there was a time when there weren’t a lot of us getting in. There definitely weren’t hip-hop artists getting in. Now that it’s happening, it’s incredible. And this isn’t something you go around campaigning for.
Somebody just called me one day and was like, “Yo, you’re getting in.” I called my partner, Shakim, and asked, “How do you feel about this one?” He said, “How do you feel about it?” I said, “No, how do you feel?” He said, “I feel great.”
This is my manager telling me, “I didn’t have to do one thing for you to get this. People are inducting you because they just like you.” That’s different. That’s a different feeling because we have to hustle hard for everything we get. So, to know that it’s happening on GP? I can rock with that. And I’m being inducted alongside my heroes. I wouldn’t be here without Lyte. There’s no way. Seeing her made me realize, “Oh, you can be that young and rhyme?”
She was the blueprint for me. Salt-N-Pepa were the blueprint for me. They took us little baby acts on tour and taught us how to do things. I really appreciate them. It makes me think about all the people who got me to this moment. So, thank you to everyone who helped me get here. This is for all of us. Every step I take is for all of us.
