Testing Queen Latifah's Music Knowledge

Before we start the music just introduce yourself. Hey this is queen Latifa. I'm gonna play you some songs. Okay. All you got to do is tell me who the artist is. One, two, three. Okay. So, uh, yeah, sugarhill gang. Take me back. Um, living in Newark, New Jersey. And we have never heard a record like that in our lives. We're like, what is this? You had to memorize it's probably like nine. You know, 10 or 12 minutes long. Yeah. That was like the first rap record that we really heard and everybody loved it. And it was based on good times, which was already a hit by chic. We were used to dancing to that record. And then here's this other record that comes along like with all this rhyming on top of it and the chicken tastes like wood. So yeah, that was a smash. And then for you, it's like, wait a minute. Should I do this? Like, was that on your radar? I don't think it was on my radar to be able to wrap at that point in my life. But I definitely knew that this was something I never heard that I fell in love with and everybody did. And people were saying like it was a fact. Yeah, there was no way it was going to be a fact. Like music. A music that you can actually talk in that you can say whatever you want to say. It's not going anywhere. So it didn't take very long for me to realize I wanted to do this. One for one. Better than none for none. Me and it's a Jones Amy White House. What kind of I guess we should just talk about it. Or we could say kind of fuckery is this. Come on. Oh, I love Amy White House. I love this song, especially since he talked about Slick Rick and her voice was just like I'm like anybody else's and to be so young. Sounded like this and just catching that vibe that beat. Just beautiful and timeless play it right now. Go find it. Play it right now. That's Daly pardon right there. You got to work with her. We did a movie called Joyful Noise together. She wrote like five songs for that. New York radio back then was definitely different. And to me better because it played so much. So much different music. This record is a record that crossed over. This was getting played on a black station. No question. It just was the pocket of it. The singing of it. The harmony of it. Everybody loved Daly pardon. Plus. It's a heartbreak song. Come on. Don't take my man. Just because you can. Did you learn anything from her or did you anything you picked up like spending time with her to be honest with you. I've learned from her since my young life. Yeah since I developed as a young woman. I learned how to carry myself a certain way and be and have a certain sense of pride about parts of my body that might have made me shy. You know and feel awkward maybe at some point in my early teens. But the way Daly carried herself. Made you feel like oh that's got to own this and have fun and just be me you know so she's always been like that kind of warm person and even a nine to five you know she's with these heavyweight actresses and she is holding her own and she's so natural. And she's just always been like that. She's a real real genuine just sweetheart. Now see now see we going to the Queens. Now see you had to be in the club a little bit. She was running the streets kind of early I was in those clubs. This is shotgun. I know you I love you like to feel the sun in the morning. If you thought it's wrecking on at any party in New York City. You are the shit. Let me just tell you that. You will be looked at like oh you know music you know that you will get some some street credibility at a house party if you throw that record on anywhere in or New Jersey of course well from where club music has never gone out of style. What's going on with you right now. I am a coach on season 30 of the voice. So this is pretty exciting like to just be in a space to hear new music to hear new artists and to try to help make. People's dreams come true. It's a special thing like seeing somebody become a star in front of your eyes or somebody who has a talent that is just undiscovered and helping them even just be confident about what they already have. And so I think I'm going to do all right. I'll find a couple cool people on that show to be on team Queen. Let's see this. I'm going to record right here, buddy by trial call. Quest jungle brothers, day lives on it. Black sheep on it. I'm on it. Monies on it. We're all on this record. This is a big posse record right here. This is like all my brothers and sisters from the native tongue crew. You know all of us young rappers who came out in like late 80's early 90's just just had a different energy on what we wanted to do with hip hop. I just wanted to have fun. Yeah, how did you guys like find each other DJ red alert. I met the jungle brothers through him. Dayla so was on my label when I signed to Tommy boy. Dayla had this big record playing in the clubs called plug tuning. That no one had ever heard anything that sounded like that. They were cool jungle brothers. I met Monie on tour with the jungle brothers. We went to England to tour. I didn't have an album out, but I met her over there and then I was like, I heard you spit. And so she I was like, let me hear you spit. So she rom from me and I was like, yo, this girl can rom. We gonna make a record together. I don't know what it is, but we will make a record. And it turned out to be a record I did called ladies first that we did together. So we did a lot of shows. We toured together. And we all met through the jungle brothers there as well. So it's like all six degrees to red alert. Want to do one or two and then you have to go to Liberty game. Yeah, that's as important. Probably more important than this. Take them to church. World you want to know my secret. This is my secret. This is name it claim it by the Clark sisters. One of the best gospel groups to ever grace the planet earth. I played this song when I'm nervous or when I'm about to do something big, I throw on the Clark sisters. I grew up with the Clark sisters and I played their music to just calm my spirit. And know that if I'm here, then I'm supposed to be here and it's for me. And I'd like everything kind of goes away. And they sing down. They sang. They sang. You know what I mean? So there's no one who sings like a Clark. It's amazing. That music can do that to you. That can like you can be in a moment of okay, let me just hear this and it like grounds you and then you can take on the world. Certain songs can do that to you. That's a record right there that puts a battery in my back and it's been doing it for years. Like this is one of the first groups gospel groups that had a record playing in clubs in New York. Because they have a record called Jesus is the answer that sounds like Stevie Wonder's master blaster. And that song was playing in the clubs in New York in the 80s on the radio R&B radio like you know regular radio. And like what is this gospel thing that's playing? It's too good. It was a banger. So they had to play it. It had to play it last song. This one is a whole vibe. This would be just another day by yours truly. This makes me feel so nice. We sample Slick Rick at the beginning of that. This KG from Nordy by Nature produced this record and it just had like such a vibe to it. I was like, I just want to catch a vibe to this. I remember being in the studio with that song. That's one of your favorite songs. It is one of my favorite songs because it was just another day. I sometimes would get in my car and just drive around. Just drive around in the hood. Drive around neighborhoods. Just drive. Just clear my head, fill in energy. And I wanted to emulate that feeling in a song. Just another day around the way. So even depending on your neighborhood or where you from, things can get rough sometimes. But there's still like this good energy, you know, like that you can just soak in and feel good being around your people, you know, being around your friends. Just going to sit on the porch, hang out with family cousins. You know, and that's what this song is reminiscent of. So I think people connected to it on that level. Hold on. Hold on. That's what I'm talking about. Thank you. Just another day. I know my people know put a little something in the air, share some vibes. It was so nice meeting you. It's been a pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. Have fun tonight. This is awesome.