Queen Latifah

Dana Elaine Owens also known as Queen Latifah, is an American musician and rapper. Queen Latifah is an American rapper, actress and performer. Queen Latifah's parents were Lancelot as well as Rita Owens. Both were Police officers. Rita was a Newark New Jersey teacher, who taught the class at Irvington High School. The couple divorced in the year Latifah was 10 years old. Latifah attended a Catholic school and was educated within Newark New Jersey. She went to the Baptist church. Latifah can be described as an Arabic word that means "delicate and gentle". The cousin she had gave it to her at the age of eight. Always tall, the 5'10 tall Latifah was a power forward on her basketball team in high school. The play she played in her high school, Latifah performed "Home" from The Wiz. Latifah first began to beatbox for Ladies Fresh. Latifah was a part of with the Flavor Unit in its original version, made up of a group of MCs led by producer DJ Mark The 45 King. Mark James aka the DJ Mark the 40 King recorded a demo of the hip-hop Princess of the Posse by Queen Latifah. He emailed the recorded to Yo! MTV Raps which is hosted by Freddy. Dante Ross, an employee of Tommy Boy Music who heard the track and signed Latifah in 1988 to release her first track Wrath of My Madness.