NEKESA MUMBI MOODY, AP Music Writer | Posted: Thursday, October 7, 2004 12:00 am
NEW YORK - At 34, Queen Latifah is decades away from receiving a Social Security check.
Still, she already knows what she wants to be doing when she becomes a senior citizen - and rhyming on stage to the hip-hop beat that made her famous isn't one of them.
"I couldn't see me rapping," says Latifah between drags of a cigarette, lounging around her hotel suite. "With acting, I can see me doing that until I'm old and gray. But I couldn't see personally rapping forever and ever."
Which explains why the rap pioneer, who broke into the male-dominated field with hits like "Ladies First" and "U.N.I.T.Y" in the late '80s and early '90s, has downshifted on her new album to a soothing blend of soft jazz, big band, soul and standards.
"I wanted to be able to grow somewhere, and I felt like, when I start making this kind of music, this is really the kind of music I can do for the rest of my life," she says of "The Dana Owens Album," titled after her real name. "I can continue to build on it and get more creative with it. I can sing these songs 'til I'm old and gray."
Latifah is always thinking long-term, which may be why she's been able to morph from successful rapper to sitcom star ("Living Single") to talk show host (the ill-fated "Queen Latifah Show") to one of Hollywood's potential superstars - an Oscar-nominated actress with box-office draw ("Chicago," "Bringing Down the House").
Now she hits the big screen again in the action-comedy flick "Taxi," costarring Jimmy Fallon from "Saturday Night Live" - but it's Latifah who gets top billing.
"It was that combination of critical acclaim of 'Chicago' and this body of work that I brought already to the table and the financial success of 'Bringing Down the House' that at the same time created this little perfect storm of Queen Latifah business. … A lot of the roles were actually on their way already, but it just took time. I think the opportunities have come after the Oscar (nomination)," she says, referring to her 2003 performance as Matron Morton in the musical "Chicago."
"Chicago" not only opened doors for her in acting, but also in the musical arena.
Ron Fair, president of the A&M record label and a producer on the "Dana Owens" album, had long been a fan of Latifah's pipes. "I first became aware of Dana as a singer from her performance of 'Lush Life' in 'Living Out Loud,"' he says of the 1998 movie that featured Latifah as a nightclub singer.
"I was struck by the fact that she was a rapper who could sing that well. … It's kind of like somebody who first got their driver's license and their first car is a Ferrari. Her instrument is that evolved that it's a very natural thing."
"I just hope that people will be receptive to it and give it a listen," says the queen. "I hope they'll enjoy it enough to buy it and if they buy enough of them - then I'm going to come out and perform it for them."