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When It Came Time To Be A Professional Rapper, I Wouldn't Sign Anything Without Reading It. There Was No Way I Was Going To Have People Make Decisions For Me Or Wake Up One Day And Find That I Was Broke Because I Never Bothered To Read A Contract.

-Queen Latifah

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When It Came Time

Queen Latifah

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When It Came Time To Be A Professional Rapper, I Wouldn't Sign Anything Without Reading It. There Was No Way I Was Going To Have People Make Decisions For Me Or Wake Up One Day And Find That I Was Broke Because I Never Bothered To Read A Contract.

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I Feel Strongly That Women Who Look Like Me Should Feel Great. So I Am Not Changing.

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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.

Dolly Parton Made Me Chicken And Dumplings. That Tennessee Woman Can Burn Some Pots! And We Know That I Am Not Necessarily Shy To A Fork!

I Made Decisions That I Regret, And I Took Them As Learning Experiences... I'm Human, Not Perfect, Like Anybody Else.

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.

It's Great To Be Able To Employ People Who Other People Wouldn't Consider Viable Employees.

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.

Bowling, I Like Bowling. I've Been Getting Into This Bowling Thing. It's Kinda Fun.

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When There's Something That Impacts A Family Member Or Friend, That Is Difficult For Them, You Want To Do What You Can To Help. Sometimes You Can't Do Anything And It Makes You Feel Like You're Helpless, So Those Emotions Cross A Big Barometer, But They're A Big, Broad Stroke When It Comes To Someone Who You Care About. If You Have Compassion In Your Heart, You Just Care.

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.

[when I'm Not Working I Like To] Listen To Music, Watch Something Really Funny Like South Park.

Listening To Music

I've Hosted The Soul Train Awards, The American Music Awards... And I Had My Own Talk Show. So If I Can't Host By Now, What The Hell Can I Do?

There Is No Profession More Essential Than That Of An Educator, And It's Time For All Of Us To Embrace And Celebrate Their Importance And Contribution To America's Children.

If I Ran Into A 19-year-old Version Of Myself, I'd Just Tell Her To Live, Full Out. I Might Also Tell Her To Go Ahead And Have A Few Babies And Not Worry About The Timing Of It.

I Have A Drum Set In My Dressing Room. I Play Drums To Relax And Have Some Fun.

I Often Go To Bed In My Birthday Suit. But I Like Teddies And Cute Little Undies That Match. I Like A Sexy Bra And Panty Set, Or Little Shorts.

There Are Different Flavours Of Sexiness.

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.

You Can't Ask Someone Who Is Not Making That Kind Of Money To Go To The Record Store And Buy An Album When Someone Down The Street Has The Same Record With Same Sound Quality For $5.

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 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.

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.

You Have To Stand For What You Believe In And Sometimes You Have To Stand Alone.

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.

We Ignore Our Feelings A Lot, I Realize. Many Of Us Have To... Until They Really Bite Us In The Butt.

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.

I Love Ralph Lauren, Just As A Designer. I Still Think He Could Make Some Better Sizes With His Clothes, But I Like The Idea Of His Classic American Style.

I Love Music. I've Just Been Putting Studios Together, Here And At My House In New Jersey And So I Can Always Make Music And Express My Ideas And Work With People To Fine Tune Them To Where They Need To Be.

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I'm Proud Of Everything I Do, But I Think I'm The Most Happy About Becoming A Rapper. It Was My Entrance Into Everything. That Helped Me Get Into Acting.

There Were Musicians That Influenced Me, But They Weren't All Women. Teena Marie Was A Big Influence Because She Wrote And Produced Her Own Music, Which Let Me Know That Women Could Write And Produce Their Own Music, Which Was An Empowering Moment For Me.

I Wish Every Woman Would Love Herself And Embrace What She Was Given Naturally.

I Designed My Whole Image. That Was All Me. I Just Bought Some Regular Clothes, Threw A Medallion Around My Neck, And That Was It. The Next Thing I Know, That's The Look.

I Don’t Want To Be A Supermodel; I Want To Be A Role Model.

When I Was Growing Up, There Were So Many Musicals You Could Watch. I Like The Fantasy Of Musicals And I Love Music.

I Did Jay Leno With Mike The Situation, And He Just - He Lives, Like, Ten Minutes From Me In Jersey. He's Like, 'if You Ever Get A Flat, Call Me. I'll Come Fix Your Tire.' That's How We Do. That's Neighborly, You Know?

You Almost Have To Step Outside Yourself And Look At You As If You Were Someone Else You Really Care About And Really Want To Protect. Would You Let Someone Take Advantage Of That Person? Would You Let Someone Use That Person You Really Care About? Or Would You Speak Up For Them? If It Was Someone Else You Care About, You'd Say Something. I Know You Would. Okay, Now Put Yourself Back In That Body. That Person Is You. Stand Up And Tell 'em, "enough!

You Just Have To Connect With People Who Believe In Your Vision And Who Will Work With You And Advance Your Cause.

You Have To Allow Your Mind To Create And Then If You Want To Censor Something And Bring It Down Or Point It In A Different Direction, Then You Can Do It.

Once You Realize There Is A Higher Power, You Know You're Not Alone, That You Have A Purpose On The Planet. You Control Your Destiny Instead Of Letting The Day Lead You Where It May. You Seize It, Take It And Lead It.

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.

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.

I'm Thinking Wanting To Succeed Is Something In My Dna; I'm Not Like 'i've Got To Succeed,' I Just Don't Think About That... I See A Silver Lining In Everything And I See A Lesson In Everything.

There Are Still Some Places I'd Love To Visit - Africa, China, Brazil, India. I Want To Travel The World And Experience Other Cultures And Peoples.

I Am Not One To Turn Down Macaroni And Cheese, Even Late At Night. I Love Italian Food. I Love Pasta... A Refrigerator Full Of Water And Gatorade? Honey, That's Just Not Gonna Happen.

People Have Often Asked Me, Do I Want To Be The Next Oprah - There Is No Such Thing. Oprah Is Oprah, And She's Still Being Oprah If Anybody Hasn't Noticed... What I Bring To Tv Is Myself... I Really Think There's Space In Daytime Tv For A Whole Bunch Of Fun, Some Amazing Music, And Some Heart.

I Decided Early On That I Was Going To Put On My Crown And Rule My World By Acting Right And Treating Myself Like A Queen.

I'm As Involved As I Can Be. Whenever I'm Asked To Do Something, I Always Tend To Show Up.

My House Borders Horse Farms, And I Can Look Out My Window And See The Horses And The New Colts. It's Really Peaceful.

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.

Yeah, I'm From Jersey; It's Almost Like I Was Automatically Born A Nets Fan.

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.

I Have Always Felt Strongly About Empowering Women. I'm Living Proof That, With Confidence And By Believing In Yourself, You Can Accomplish Any Goal.

To Me, Hip Hop Will Never Be Right Until Female Rappers Have A Stronger Voice In It.

Sometimes When I Am In A Situation That I Have Never Been In, I Kind Of Pull Back A Little Bit To Observe Things; It Doesn't Really Last Long Though I Have To. I've Resigned To Myself To The Fact That I Have To Be Me.

Hip-hop Definitely Taught Me A Lot. Having To Create Your Own Identity And Become Known And Respected In A Male-dominated Field - It Requires Some Guts. There Are Times You Have To Be Strong, And Times When You Have To Stand Alone For What You Believe In.

When It Came Time To Be A Professional Rapper, I Wouldn't Sign Anything Without Reading It. There Was No Way I Was Going To Have People Make Decisions For Me Or Wake Up One Day And Find That I Was Broke Because I Never Bothered To Read A Contract.

I Don't Have To Really Be In The 60s. Every Time I Hail A Cab In New York, And They Pass Me By And Pick Up The White Person, Then I Get A Dose Of It. Or When They Don't Want To Take You To Harlem. I Grew Up With That.

I Totally Want Like 18 Babies.

There Are Two Things I Wear. One Is A Curvation Undergarment Over My Whole Body, And Then Maybe I'll Also Put On Some Spanx. They're So Great. They Have A Way Of Smoothing Everything Out, And Then You Can Just Put On Whatever You Want. It Accents You And Makes You Feel Pretty.

No One Ever Got Ahead By Going Through The Motions. You Have To Constantly Be Improving Yourself. Make Your Life The Masterpiece You Want It To Be.

Improving Yourself

Always Follow Your Own Path.

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 Always Loved All Kinds Of Music. I Would Watch Musicals A Lot As A Kid, On Tv, Watch The Fred Astaire Movies. I'd Watch 'the Wizard Of Oz.' I Was A Big Jerry Lewis Fan, And They'd Have These Big Bands And Someone Singing - Some Siren, Or Some Guy Singing Some Gorgeous Song. I Was Always Enamored Of That Style Of Music.

The Objectification Of Females Is Not A Good Thing! Not Every Rapper Does This, But When The Lyrics Focus Solely On The Strip Club, 'poppin' Bottles' And How Many Girls They Can 'tap,' It Distorts What Kids Are Learning. I Think If There Was More Of A Female Presence In Hip Hop We Could Break Up The Monotony. It's All About Balance.

I Want To See 10 Female Rappers Getting Regular Rotation. It Can't Be All About A Man's Opinion.

The Reality Is, I Like Imperfection. You Take Away From The World When You're Not Yourself. Whatever Is Unique And Special About You Was Designed By God. And When You Try To Be Someone Else, We Don't Get You. Who Knows What You Would Have Contributed To The World Had You Just Been Yourself, If You Had Just Celebrated Who You Are And Just Walked Boldly?

When You Have A Family As Big As Mine, There Are Many Things That Affect My Family Members, In Many Different Ways. It Could Be High Blood Pressure, It Could Be Cholesterol, It Could Be Obesity, It Could Be Sleep Deprivation Or Sleep Apnea. An Illness Is An Illness, Especially If It Affects Younger Kids. Illnesses Affect Your Family And They Impact You Because You Want To Do The Best You Can To Help Your Family Member Become More Healthy, Just As My Family Members Want Me To Be Healthy.

When You're Rapping, You Do Have To Perform To A Certain Degree, But Not Every Rapper Is Necessarily A Gifted Actor.

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