After claiming her spot on top of the Hip Hop mountain with her debut “All Hail The Queen” in 1989, two years later Queen Latifah dropped a surprising mixture of R&B, New Jack Swing, House & Reggae, all that on top of an all around more soulful Hip Hop vibe. Some fans and critics, who were waiting for a straight hardcore rap album, didn’t like the direction Latifah took on this LP. But listening back 30 years later, it’s clear this album is far from a lackluster follow up.
Even if tracks like “Give me your love” contains more singing, most of the record demonstrate the Queen was still on top of her game as an MC, with powerful songs like “Latifah’s Had It Up 2 Here” or “Nature of a Sista'”, containing strong bars and punchlines, empowering women in a male dominated industry.
The album didn’t perform as well as Tommy Boy predicted (the album went gold but…anyway), and as a result, Latifah got dropped from the label. But forget the bad reviews and all, even with a couple of mishaps, this record deserves to be in the long list of best Hip Hop projects of 1991!
Full album on YouTube:
Stream on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Tidal.
Playlist with the videos:
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Fly Girl
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Latifah’s Had It Up To Here
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How Do I Love Thee
Playlist with remixes:
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Nuff’ Of The Ruff’ Stuff’ (Greene Dashiki Extended Version)
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Fly Girl (Ambient Mix)
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Fly Girl (Blacksmith Brixton Bass 12″ Mix)
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How Do I Love Thee (Deep House Mix)
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How Do I Love Thee (Extended Club Mix)
