All Hail the Queen

A classic debut containing a bonafide anthem in Ladies First. Some say this was the pinnacle of Latifah's career. Those people have obviously not seen Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade.

I think a lot of folks get down on this album for being dated, which it is, but so is a lot of the music on this list. I don't think that dated hip-hop is any worse inherently than dated rock or dated jazz. What's more, this album comes from a singular moment in hip-hop when sampling was wide open and DJs had the equipment to take large samples from popular music. Not all of the rapping on this album has aged well, but Queen Latifah has unquestionable skill on the mike, and its on full display here. The early synthesis of rap with house music is also really cool. This is certainly not the best rap album I've gotten on this list, but it has a case as the most underrated rap album that I've gotten. 4/5

No album is more 1989. It's frozen in a block of 100% pure 1989. It's produced by George H.W. Bush on the deck of the Exxon Valdez. So yes, it's all dated to buggery, but that is not that bad in itself; listening to this has some of the joys of archaeology. However, it's also very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very repetitititititititititititive. All the house beats sound exactly the same. All the raps sound the same, with the sole theme that of Queen Latifah being a good rapper. That makes one good song, but this is meant to be a bloody album. A second listen proves more appealing than the first, but it's still one fine song done 12 times. Yes, one fine song done 12 times. Indeed, one fine song done 12 times. Truly, one fine song done 12 times. In frankness, one fine song done...

Shit

What's that? You're all out of Neneh Cherry? How am I going to relive the salad days of 1989? Oh, you have some Queen Latifah? Well that will substitute nicely.

So I’m guessing this is on the 1,001 list related to Queen Latifah being one of the first female rappers – so I get that, and I also think it’s impressive for a 19-year old female in the male dominated hip hop world… That said, just how many songs do you need to have on an album where you reference how “dope” your rhymes are, talk about how you can out-rap anyone, and mention your name – along with DJ Mark The 45 King? A couple of songs? Perhaps half the album? Nope – apparently EVERY SINGLE God-damn track needs to make some reference to the “Queen & King”… Absolutely wore me out… Additionally, the sound on this album seems incredibly dated to me (i.e. and it didn’t age well either…) – as I guess a lot of hip-hop back then tended to sound like this – and then of course the lyrical content of 80%+ of the songs was about what a great rhymer she was, and how she could take on anybody… Sure, 1 or 2 songs like that would have been fine – but just about every song on the album – well shit got pretty dull, pretty quickly IMO – but I guess when it came out, it sounded different… The only lyrical content that was along the lines of what I expected was “Evil That Men Do” – after of course the obligatory first few minutes of rapping about what a great rhymer she was – the rest of it was interesting, and would have preferred more of her perspectives like that… Also liked the reggae feel of “Princess Of The Posse” – just had to put up with all the lyrics about how great she was – though the chorus by the back-up singers was fine… Giving this a 2 for historical significance, and the inaugural work of a 19-year old female in a male dominated genre, but at the end of the day – the quality of the songs throughout an album HAVE to mean something, and the endless repetition on this one was just insufferable…

I really wanted to like this more than I did.

When she's on, she's on, but there are too many tracks that don't work. This did not age well at all. Best track: Dance for Me

09/15/2022 I’ll probably say this hundreds of times throughout this project, but I am not an 80s girl, and late 80s/early 90s dance hall/house music is one of the genres that I hate the MOST, so this album was really tough to get through. So much so that I didn’t even do it. No disrespect or anything, but this album is not for me whatsoever. — Today sucked fat ass, I cried on the phone to Luke about how I hate school and I want to quit 🤣🤣🤣 I’m trying to force myself to stick with it and not give up so easily, but holy fuck is it easy to get discouraged. I fucking hate computers, ever since I was a child I’ve longed for a time other than this one, yet I have to be stuck in this hellhole of a world that just keeps driving itself further and further toward a bottomless pit of despair. I find it really hard to find a will to live sometimes.

It was awful.

19 years old when she released this, but 1989 hip hop doesn't age well.

i mean i see the appeal but felt a little cringe at times, i don’t feel as though i need to revisit low 2.5

Une couverture piégeuse… Si j'avais voulu un album d'Ice Cube dissimulé sous une perruque et un turban, j'aurais directement demandé à Robert (je le connais personnellement). Non, non et non.

After NWA’s misogynistic lyrics two days ago, this felt good!

The only reason this doesn't get five stars is because it not timeless. The beats and delivery style absolutely peg this as a rap album from the late 80s-early 90s. But, for the time, this album is absolutely head of the class. The lyrics are so sharp they draw blood just brushing against them. It's rare for a debut album to be such a great indication of an artist's legacy but, with "All Hail the Queen" Latifa made it clear that she was here to stay and ready to rumble. And she has. Her impact on music (and film) in America is undeniable. And it's all on display here. Great album.

Very good 80s rap that again loses a point for length

Fair play to her breaking into the male dominated hip-hop world. Some good production and flow - surprisingly sounds less dated than some of her contemporaries. Best Track: Dance For Me; Mama Gave Birth To The Soul Children; Wrath of My Madness

Lyrics are pretty weak for a rap album

Really disappointed, bland, lyrically kinda dull

Ik ga ook een album maken dat van A tot Z over mezelf gaat.

No no god no. Put it back in the ark of the covenant and open it again in 30 years. Let the future deal with it. Just get it out of my sight.

"Rhymes are smokin', concentration can't be broken. Queen Latifah's Outspoken." Groovy and soulful like I expected from Queen Latifah. She blends rap with reggae, jazz, and hip hop. QL sets the expectation early in Latifah's Law. The Queen of Royal Badness has a lot to say, and this f*ggot ain't got nothin' better to do than listen. Latifah doesn't shy away from addressing racial apartheid, pleasure politics, feminism, and mass-incarceration. I wanted to take away a point for the chipmunk noises at the end of Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children, but after Evil That Men Do, I can't. 5/5.

Hell yeah! I wasn't sure how much female fronted rap there might be on the list, but I was delighted to see the Queen! A mishmash of genres and styles, and a sonic education which teaches more with each listen

Good stuff, positive vibes, great beats, good message. Don't know what more you want.

FUN producers did a SIIICK job on this i really really love this. 4.7/5

Timeless beats, effortless flows, excellent production, excellent features, an undeniable classic of New York rap

This is a joy, art, musical, inventive.

All hail the queen is right!

It has been a very long time since I last listened to this album. The hip-hop of the late 80s feels good to me!

Wow! This was a great weekend of music. Just as with yesterday's PJ Harvey, as soon as I finished All Hail the Queen I just started it over again. Fantastic!

didn't think I was a fan of Queen latifah - until listening to this! boppin, funky, she is a great lyricist / rapper.

you wouldn't have Beyonce without Queen Latifah. and this debut is jazzy, funky, groovy, and with a flow that is sterling. Ladies First is a killer song.

I just snagged the vinyl last week to finally bring this album in to my collection, so this gave me a perfect excuse to break it in. Start to finish a banger, and an absolute classic.

A perfect album a seriously enjoyable listen les go

Beautiful and soulful throughout. Really easy to just listen and vibe to.

favourite songs: mama gave birth to the soul children, the pros, evil that men do, inside out no least favourites, absolutely loved this and knew that i would as soon as de la soul appeared. fantastic album. started listening again as soon as it was done.

i loved this shit

стильно, модно, вкусно

stupid good. 5 stars.

Ha, nice. This came up immediately after De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising on my list. Just like that one, I thought that this was an excellent product of the hip-hop golden age. This had a bit of everything - reggae, dub, house, jazz, soul. Overall it was just a fun, energetic album with excellent flow, a lot of great collabs, and several genres being channeled brilliantly. Favourite: Come into My House

like it

I knew Queen Latifah was a rapper, but not sure I'd heard anything really and knew her mainly for film roles. This was quality! Proper hip hop, there was also a bit of dub and reggae sounding stuff in there too. Much better than I expected. Becoming clear to me that I definitely prefer the east coast sound. Some of this sounded like DJ format, or rather format sounds like this. Particularly the track with de la soul and wrath of my madness. Thought the guest artist songs kept it interesting too and it flew by. Listened a second time and it has to be a 5. I'll be back!

wow this album is a masterpiece. flows and rhymes are absolutely impeccable and the beats are so catchy and creative. love the hook on wrath of my madness especially. the voice change rap was cute haha. saxophone on ladie’s first was cool af. track for track such a great album.

Slut 80’er hiphop, den gamle lyd, skarp lyrik, indflydelsesrigt

Amazing HiP-Hop debut.

Crazy that she was 18/19 recording this. Required listening for hip hop fans. Fantastic.

What a talent

Punk fucking rock

4.5/5. Essential early hip hop. Nothing else to say.

Yes.

Absolutely mint, no idea she was this good. Better than, or at least as good as, a lot of the greatsnfrom this era, Tribe, De La Soul, etc. Easy a 4 maybe a 5

This album is great from start to finish.

No topaba esto. Uno de los mejores discos de hip hop de todos los tiempos.

Gute Vibes, aber ein paar Lieder weiter geklickt

so fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! made me very nostalgic for some reason

i was pleasantly surprised by this one. of course, i kind of forgot that queen latifah started off as a rapper but her flow is pretty decent and the beats here are super fun. it's not anything high brow or mind blowing, but it's extremely listenable. the highlight here for me was 'mama gave birth to the soul children' which features de la soul and is a killer track. but there's nothing here that's truly bad. it's pretty fun and a solid album.

in a better world, one in which the work of female artists in hip hop was allowed the longevity and staying power it truly deserves, we'd be talking about Queen Latifah's debut album in the same breath as records like 3 Feet High and Rising. I don't just bring De La Soul up due to their inclusion on track 2 here (although that's a fantastic song!); 3 Feet High and All Hail the Queen are both emblematic of the ways in which rap music, and particularly rap albums, were evolving as the nineties were about to begin. I'm thinking especially of sample selection, conceptual focus, and most importantly, the expansion of subject matter! this is often cited as one of hip hop's first major feminist statements, and for good reason. I can think of times where I've heard female rappers attempt to prove that they can rap "as good as" their male counterparts, but Queen Latifah's perspective is much different. she isn't concerned with reaching parity with men, especially considering the evil they do (an evil she speaks about over a KRS-One beat on side B)! Latifah opens the album with a verse about how she might not be the best female MC you've ever heard, but MC stands for "Microphone Commando", and she'll command your attention anyway. she'll make you dance for her, a task made easier by some excellent beats from DJ Mark The 45 King! I love how rap songs from this era will sometimes have an instrumental break with a sample in one key, a section for the verses with a sample in a second key, and sometimes a hook that's in a third key! the subtle ways hip hop production breaks away from traditional tonality are not lost on me. the album's most iconic track, "Ladies First", is an ode to female solidarity, a message which I think has been somewhat lost in the modern rap landscape. since i started following hip hop in the 2010s, its culture's inherent misogyny has seemed to only allow for one, maybe two big female rappers to exist at one time. although, maybe with artists like Megan Thee Stallion, Doechii, CupcakKe and many others finding their way into a bigger pond this decade, that might be starting to change! decent 7/10.

The beat is super funky and the bars are tight, but the kids talking on "Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children" are a little creepy. "Come Into My House" is dope. "Wrath of my Madness" has a sweet beat and cool vocal sections. "Princess of the Posse" also has awesome sections. Her flow on this song sounds a lot like Phife Dawg. The album is great. It is little single-tone and at times the songs blend together. I wasn't super dialed into the lyrics but it's clear she has a lot of thoughtful bars about her negative experiences. 8/10

'Ladies First' is one of the best and most important hip-hop songs in the genre's history. It's the only song I knew of this album before this listen, a hip-hop feminist anthem backed by a crunchy bass and even chunkier drum beat. I love Queen Latifah but it's always been Monie Love's flow here that won me over. But it's really the back-and-forth between the two Emcees that's the hook here. Unsurprisingly, the rest of this thing is quite strong. It perfectly balances Afrocentricity and social consciousness (especially on 'Evil that Men Do') while still maintaining a strong braggadocious edge. Like Chuck D, Queen Latifah has a strong, authoritative voice, and a super enjoyable, expressive delivery style. The beats aren't all that unique, but there are some standouts - I really like the production on 'Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children'. The house direction of 'Come into My House' was enjoyable...a genuine banger with that one. The reggae tone of a song like 'The Pros' was another standout moment, I like that strange synth sample on the hook. I enjoy the ragga hooks whenever they crop up in general, my favorite being on 'Wrath of My Madness'. Solid '80s hip-hop, any fan of this style will find something to enjoy here.

I apologize Queen Latifah, I wasn’t familiar with your game. Thoughtful, well-produced, full of charecter. “Come Into My House” is the highlight for me

Nice

I don't know what I thought Queen Latifah sounded like but it wasn't this. This is cool. It's like a 3.5, more something pleasant to have on than something I'll come back to. music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)

What a stunning album to be recommended on the 6th of November 2024. It's inanity and honesty heart breaking that women have been signing about and fighting for the same issues of rights and bodily autonomy for so long, and I just despise the men in power. Why can't we grow? Why can't we push forwards?? Why are we stuck in stasis as a society? Anyway, this album is spectacular. Favourite track: Ladies First.

LP

Super not for me but I totally get it.

Surprisingly good one.

I guess I slept on the queen, this is really good. Nice production, interesting flow, pleasant tone, positive lyrics. It’s just missing a killer hit that sticks in my head to push it to top marks.

really solid late 80s rap

Yes. This is an album of its time. But, this is a very, very solid debut. She's comfortable with several styles of flow and more than a few styles of beats. With this one album she planted her flag and proved she belonged with all the other rappers that were already popular. Female or male

I bloody love the Daisy Age ecosystem at play here. The stories from different artists intertwine and overlap. Mama Gave Birth holds it all together with the cartoon character plot. There's a great back and forth rhythm. Impossible not listen without swaying to the beats.

this girl got flow.

Comin’ with that Boom-Bap sound, back in the tail end days of positivity in hip hop. It isn’t the hardest hitting record ever to come down, but it’s eclectic, energetic, spirited, and fun. It’s a bit of a time capsule, but even if the rest of the world has moved on from this sound, it’s a worthy representative of the joy of the old days.

I only know her from shite movies so imagine my surprise to find this is good

i had fun

For an old school hip hop album this bangs. I probably won’t pick it up very often if ever, but pretty amazing given its context in musical history.

Favourite songs: Ladies First, Queen of Royal Badness, Latifah's Law, Evil That Men Do, Wrath of My Madness, Come Into My House, Mama Gave Birth To The Soul Children Least favourite songs: Inside Out 4/5

OK, I get why this should be on the list - No other album represents women in rap in this period (80s-90s) as well. Love the Queen - That doesnt make it a great 5 star album, though. It loses a star for a little less than half of the album being filler tracks and some lackluster production. 4/5

Hip hop worked on me this time, I think becuse of her voice

Solid album. Even though 80's rap can sound dated with some of the drum sounds, I prefer this to the over saturated rap we have today. Not something I'll revisit but I enjoyed listening.

The down-votes of this record as “dated” are unhinged. Don’t trust these people to tell you the color of the sky. This record is an artifact of a time and sound, and it’s a brilliant one at that.

why does queen latifah go fucking hard that's a solid 4

Fresh!

Latifah jumps a bunch of contemporaneous styles and influences like nobody's business and pulls them all off effortlessly with the appropriate help of some very appropriate feature guests.

Solid 4, some of the beats were really cool and the arrangements were interesting enough to keep me listening

Love the beats and the little things throughout the album. She’s cool

Assertive and energetic, with a positive vibe. Although it's true that the album gets a little redundant in terms of style, it was really enjoyable to listen to. After having to sit through NWA the day before, this was so refreshing. Fave Songs: Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children, Ladies First, Latifah's Law, Evil That Men Do, Princess of the Posse, Dance for Me

Activist queen!

This seems to be the album where Queen Latifah seized the throne. Rap still isn’t going to be ideal for me, but it’s good to get some different rap like this in the mix!

3.75

Funky, jazzy, and just a ton of fun. Some of the samples remind me of 80s electro and it's just goofy enough to be so enjoyable.

queen indeed

4.5

This was a fun album - forthright feminist lyrical flows over a heavy cocktail of funk, disco and hip-hop. I liked it!

Better than I excepted.

Awesome classic hip-hop sounds. I love how warm the overall mix is, it really shows up her voice.

The only other Queen Latifah music I've listened to before this is "When you're good to Mama" from Chicago (My favourite song from my favourite musical!) I'm voting this album up higher than I would if I only based my scores on the actual music (I can't seperate other personal factors when rating the albums - I'm just rolling with it) So - the music is fine, not amazing, and in my opinion not the best example of female rap artists from the late 80s (I ask again WHY oh WHY isn't Salt n Pepa on the 1001 list?? Its a travesty) but the reason I am adding an extra 2 stars is because there are NOT ENOUGH WOMEN REPRESENTED IN THIS LIST, the music industry is already so biased against female artists and this list seems even more so! Hats off to Queen Latifah for making her mark on the entertainment industry and generally kicking arse as a powerful female voice. Not even just as a female voice but one who spans other Intersectionalities too - yassss Queen!

No es mi estilo pero es muy clásico y si vale la pena

Slay. 4

All hail the Queen

Pretty darned good!