Ms. Latifah

Los Angeles native Ms. Latifah is used to surprising us. She knows that we’ll look at her modest style of dress, and not expect her to dazzle us with her witty wordplay, or hold her own when compared to any MC in the game with her effortless flow. She knows that we’ll take one look at her petite frame, and expect anything but the soulful alto that caught the ears of hip-hop and R&B fans around the world on her catchy first single “Radio”. So we shouldn’t be surprised when this triple threat tells us with a straight face that she doesn’t consider herself a hip-hop or R&B artist, should we?



While her talents would justify a top spot in either genre, Latifah considers herself first and foremost a spoken word artist. She fell in love with the art form as a young girl growing up in California, but was never compelled to perform until 2006. It was then that some of the regulars at Jazzman’s Café in Atlanta showed her there was a market for spoken word, and encouraged her to perform hers onstage. As an Apollo-style crowd, Jazzman’s quickly taught Latifah the importance of humorous punch lines, straightforward delivery, and the occasional plot twist when performing for a fickle crowd. She soon became a fan favorite. At the behest of her growing fan base, Latifah went on to record some of her poetry, and eventually shop it to radio stations around Atlanta. When one DJ told her she was as talented as they come, but that radio would never play her poetry, she used his words to prove him wrong, recording the song that would go on to gain radio play at stations around the country. Websites based in countries as far as South Korea, and as prominent as allhiphop.com, where she was featured as a Slept On Artist, took notice.



Young. Black. Muslim. Woman.



Since her decision to share her gift with the world, she has not only been featured on numerous radio stations across the world including Atlanta’s Hip-Hop stations V-103 and Hot 107.9, she has also shared the stage with artists such as Lupe Fiasco, Ludacris, The Last Poets, Malcolm Jamal Warner and Ken Ford. Ms. Latifah has won several poetry slams and unsigned artist competitions and is often invited to speak to high school and college students around



So if ever you have a chance to see Ms. Latifah perform, don’t be surprised if you see her bring her 5 feet and 2 inches to the stage, smile a small smile, open her mouth, and the biggest voice you’ll hear all night comes out.