Kayla Frye
Hip-Hop Appreciation
May 1, 2017 More Than an Artist Queen Latifah is a female afrocentric MC, fashionista, and TV & movie actress. Through her music she has created a substantial impact on our society. Queen Latifah is god sent artist but is also passionate about women’s rights, which she expresses through her lyrics which in turn has influenced her audience. She has the natural characteristics of a leader, which makes it easy for her to passionately convey what she believes into her music. To me, Queen Latifah serves as a very influential advocate for the black community and more specifically black women. Statistically black women have been pushed to the bottom of the totem pole in nearly every component. According to blackdemographics.com,…show more content… Queen Latifah has the incredible capability of taking a belief that is so strong and prominent and conveying into entertainment that millions of people will hear and be inspired by, without the message losing any of its power. Think about it people travel the world and rally, protest, and present on this topic and spend years researching, learning, and publishing their own discoveries and she has the god-given to sing about it in a Hip-Hop song and probably be more successful conveying it to an audience. Which is incredible since 63% of feminist are between the ages of 18-24 (Poll: Feminism in the U.S.), which also happens to be the target market for her…show more content… As discussed before, many correlate with the black community and feminist movement. Also, her music does a great job in conveying her Afrocentric beliefs. Afrocentrism is defined as “centered on Africa or on African-derived cultures” (Afrocentric). her music you often hear references other beliefs but also her culture. Queen Latifah has often said Afrocentricity is a way of living to her. Queen Latifah’s beliefs are conveyed through her performances as well. She has been known to perform African dances to the beat of her own songs, which is just amazing as it shows her true passion and love for her culture. Her passion and love for African-American culture is prominently conveyed in the video for her song “Ladies First”, during the video there is a clip of South Africa during the Apartheid. She is also dressed in a military dress that is colored in correlation with the African National Congress. “Ladies First” is a perfect example of how Queen Latifah takes her passions and beliefs and turns them into songs, which in-turn influences her audience. The lyrics and music video for this song have representation of both Afrocentrism and Feminism, the two main beliefs apparent in her
