Queen Latifah vs male patriarchy, amateur rappers and biters and crimes of ignorance

In 1989, the Native Tongues workshop of Afrocentric Rap artists gave us Queen Latifia's first album. She lay down her credentials as a feminist minded rapper shamelessly- not careing that she is not only in a man's terrain but in a terrain of male artists who's sexual politics lean firmly towards chauvinism and misogyny.

Hip-Hop heads often reminisce on back in the days when Rappers did their art for the love and not the money, and that is certainly true here. The album and words and personality feel like love was crafted into everything. Spiritual love, love of Hip Hop, love of reggae, love of raga, love of house music, love of the people, love of her fellow women (a sister's keeper), and maternal love of the youth. It feels like the same school of new age positivity as those "If a child lives with... he learns to...." posters. Just what I need when I'm thirsty for good natured Hip-Hop music from back in the day.

So we're introduced to Queen Latifah- feminist rapper, precise delivery, hard boiled voice, and a wonderful sense of humour.

"base lines affect me
while my rhymes direct me,
forgive the crowd, oh Lord
they know not why they sweat me!"

There's a real sense that Queen Latifah has been pretty harrased, that she has endured many criticisms, insults, challenges and intimidations and she has always proved stronger for it. It's never grinded her down, never let her feel fragile and vulnerable- she's too strong minded for that and it's all simply made her more proud to overcome it, and her voice brims and booms with confidence and robust directness.

"Challenge me and you will burn,
yes in the fire you will burn"

For a while, there's been a trend for female pop artists to show off their girl power credentials, whether it be the Spice Girls or Christina Aguilera. And quite often that's all they do is follow a trend and pedaling it, not really putting their skills or talent into it, or even their knowledge. Queen Latifah however indeed has something to prove and the skills to break down the opposition with lyrical beatdowns.

"cos when they see a woman standing up on her own two
sloppy and slouching is something I won't do
some think that we can't flow
stereotypes they got to go"

She is backed by some fantastic production from the DJ 45 King, who crafts spontaneous and jazzy beats and trumpet blasts and an occasional ragga touch, and touches of house music which is truly infectious. The music just soothes alone, and I don't care how it leaps from one genre to the next and doesn't lend the album much cohesiveness, it will always hit the right note with me, no matter how old the album gets. It will always provide the sunshine in my life and relax my body and mind.

And it's not just the DJ who lends a helping hand. Even as a vocalist, Queen Latifia is not alone on this album, and I would say perhaps this was one of the first Rap albums to make excessive use of guest stars. Daddy-O joins her for some battle rhymes on the ragga influenced "The Pros". Queen Latifah handles herself well solo:

A female walked up to me and said "Latifah bust a line"
I don't think you're on the strength show me the time
I said "If you really want to do this we can do this fine
Take six paces and begin to rhyme"
As soon as she attempted to make a sound
I ate her up with the verb broke her down with the noun
Cause I hate it when someone challenges with me
but cannot balance with me
I get annoyed when they can't go
blow for blow

Daddy-O's rhymes are... pretty.... Old School actually, then again this was 1989, and there's a certain nostalgic charm to hearing lines like:

So we can go rhyme for rhyme if you wish
But eating you suckers is my favorite dish
And I warned you suckers if you messed with me
You'll be the next ingredient in my recipe

The most noteable guest appearance includes Monie Love on the announcing trumpet blast "Ladies' First" (one of the best tracks for actually slamming!) and then blastmaster KRS-ONE arrives to deal the preaching in the wonderfully topical "The Evil That Men Do". A song that really empathises with the disillusioned:

Situations, reality, what a concept!
Nothing ever seems to stay in step

And despite using few words and is vague with them, she sure thinks big about the way people think, and how their sense of rights are constructs, and how the United States has such a vast population who face poverty and how by the bizzare politics system in America, to bring them back from the brink rests on the responsibility of one man, who can easily find himself lost in the millions of masses and conveniently turn a blind eye:

It's a sucker who tells you you're equal
You don't need him, Johannasburg's crying for freedom!
We the people hold these truths to be self-evident
But there's no response from the president
Someone's living the good life, tax-free
Except for a girl, can't find a way to be crack free

It's something of a misleading pun the title, I believe, because the song is actually about crimes of ignorance. It's not about crimes of perpetration but of neglect, and here's one of the best moments.

"don't you think its a shame
when someone can put a quarter in a video game
but when a homeless person approaches you on the street
you can't treat him the same"

I think that is such an important segment. We feel proud to keep hold of our money and we always assume the next man would never use our money wisely, but look at the squandering that we do by ourselves. If we can throw it away like that, why not throw it in the direction of the needy?

Its the only political song on the album, and there's no doubt that artistically, Eric B. and Rakim made the undisputeable best Hip-Hop albums of the 1980's, but in terms of sheer topical content of that track, this one is way ahead of them, and dare I say even up on the same plateau as the explicit reality rapping of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and the political damage of Public Enemy.

Let me say a larger point on that note. Nowadays it seems the more freedom musicians are given to explore adult themes, the more Fred Dursts and Snoop Doggs you get using adult words to be even more childish! I appreciate that shock art has a place in American culture- its popular because its celebration of sin is taken as a releasing antidote to the oppressive religious moral extremism that often characterises our thinking and upbringing- such music can quite legitimately claim to be 'freeing the mind'. But really I think it tells a sad story when music is becoming so regressive that the most potent stuff is the oldies.

And this is potent indeed- no gangsta fronting to provoke anyone to roll their eyes, the most minimal and mild of cursing so you can easily play it for your kids, or even your grandparents, and a good natured message that captures the heart rather than blackens and shrivels it, and really feeds the mind in a healthy way.