Latifah smiles easily. "I needed to," says the rapper/singer/songwriter/actress/film producer/celebrity spokeswoman, who last year added the Jenny Craig diet line to her string of endorsement deals.
But the multitasking artist born Dana Owens isn't here to discuss her weight loss, or to promote anyone's product other than her own. Settling into a booth in the lobby, Latifah orders English Breakfast tea, with milk and sugar, and begins talking about her new album, Persona. It's her first collection of original, hip-hop-driven songs in more than a decade, following two albums on which she covered traditional pop, jazz and soul tunes.
Persona contributors include fellow notables such as Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes and the production team Cool & Dre. Results range from the driving single Cue the Rain, which Latifah describes as "almost a rock record," to My Couch, "where I'm imagining that my guy has had a hard day of work, and I'm going to make sure he has all the loving he wants when he gets home. There's a lot of love on this album."
Latifah, 39, is less forthcoming about her romantic life. "I never comment on that," she says, gently but firmly. But she does open up about the inspiration for The World, an uncharacteristically hard-bitten track. In the song, Latifah alludes to having been molested as a 5-year-old child; her assailant was a male babysitter.
"It was important for me to write that, to get it off my chest," she says. "And to discuss it with a therapist, and tell my parents — which I did, eventually, though it took me about 20 years. And hopefully it will be helpful to someone out there who has gone through a similar situation."
The incident "left me not knowing how to deal with certain things. Boys can put pressure on you, and I didn't do so well with saying no. I had a lot to figure out, and I did eventually, but it was tough. We have to do a better job of looking out for our young girls, because there are predators out there."
Latifah also expresses concern for her female peers. "Never in my career do I remember rap being so male-dominated. In videos, women are basically shown as the girl you shake the booty with. They're objectified. There are females out there who can rap, who listen to rap. Missy and Lil' Kim and the young up-and-coming ones need an opportunity to be heard. I think we're all masculine and feminine, and a society can't be right if you don't honor the feminine voice."
Such forthright positions are integral to Latifah's enduring appeal, says former Vibe editor Alan Light. "Hip-hop applauds succeeding on your own terms, and she's done that. She's always been true to the image she created: proud, strong, socially aware. Those qualities are there whether in her music, her movies or when she's hosting award shows."
Though Latifah likes to play film characters who share her strength, "they don't have to be that way," she says. "A good script is always the starting point." Having voiced the role of a pregnant mammoth for this summer's animated Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, she'll turn up next year opposite fellow rapper/actor Common in the romantic comedy Just Wright.
Latifah also will kick off a month-long concert tour Nov. 1 in Seattle. "I know I'll have so much fun rocking these new songs on stage, and, of course, playing older favorites." Covergirl, the tour's sponsor, has launched a video contest on QueenLatifah.com to choose opening acts in select cities. A grand-prize winner will score a record contract and the chance to be featured in a national print ad for Latifah's Covergirl Queen Collection.
Light says there will be little pressure to boost Persona's commercial performance: "Her recordings are more important symbolically at this point, to show she hasn't left that world behind. She's never turned her back on hip-hop, but I think it's always been clear that she's not going to stay in just one place."
Or, he might add, rest on her laurels. "I've been in this business long enough that I've had great days and days when I'm over it," Latifah says. "But then someone will tell me their daughter was inspired by my being a big girl who's successful, or I'll meet a grown woman I inspired.
"The other morning I was (out shopping), and a lady told me how much I meant to her and to women of color, and women in general. When I hear that, I know that I'm doing the right thing, and that I should keep going."MORE
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