All Hail the Queen

That bit with the fake children voices was horrendous enough to ruin my entire week

Every time I read hip hop reviews it’s always the music is dated. If you think about it all old music sounds dated. Very few songs transcend time and even then they still sound of their time. Now this album attempts to do a lot of things musically. Around 87 the bpm had increased a little and this is art of that movement. They started adding house music to their songs. Latifah wanted this album to be a party. I remember seeing her concert in 1991 and she was crazy good. This album has the classic Ladies First which still is a banger. Mark the 45 King handle most of the production on the album. It lends to a cohesive sound. She plays around with a multi syllabic rhyme scheme in places. Very rappers had mastered it. Rakim had only did on a few albums. Big Daddy Kane did a few times. Now it’s everywhere. But still a challenge to master. Is this a perfect album no. There’s good features Daddy-O and Monie Love. I’m not sure what the idea was behind Mama gave birth to soul children with De La Soul. The song just didn’t make sense to me. I don’t like reggae tracks. It just doesn’t work for me. It’s a good album overall not great.

Hard to go wrong with positive rap from the dawn of the golden age especially when connected to the native tongues.

I am so used to thinking of Queen Latifah as an actress, that I kind of forgot she started out as a rapper

I actually was kind of surprised that none of the songs on this album sounded familiar to me. While I'm definitely not a fan of hip hop so I wouldn't expect to be super familiar with anything on the album, I expected there would be a couple of songs that I at least vaguely knew, but there wasn't. Even though I'm not a hip hop fan, I didn't mind this album at all. It definitely sounds like 1980s/90s hip hop, but it had some interesting reggae vibes to it. And while I'm certainly no expert, I found Queen Latifah's lyrics to be really good and it's clear she is a very talented rapper. Plus, it's always refreshing to listen to rap where the rapper doesn't feel the need to drop an f-bomb every other word and just keep it pretty clean. Queen Latifah was the trailblazer for female rappers and hip hop artists, so this totally deserves to be on the list. Not something I would listen to again, but worthy of a listen for sure.

Not for me. 1.5

It's cool. I'm sure for 1989 it was top shelf, but overall whatever.

Sorta funky

This was not that good.

Early rap really doesn’t get treated with the same esteem as other genres. I feel like the jazz and funk samples plus fast rapping is a bit of a lost art.

decent rap. old school

What a fantastic album. Those days of ran and hip hop were so much fun. This album really brought me back to the late 80's and early 90's.

okay

A surprisingly listenable album, albeit with a couple of duds. Elements reminded me of Kriss Kross, De La Soul and a hint of Wu-Tang. 'Dance for Me' and 'Queen of Royal Badness' were personal highlights.

One of my first albums was by Salt n Pepa. This is like hearing that for the first time. The bass, the rhymes, love it.

I still really don't like this type of music. There was one dance music type of song (Come into my house) that wasnt' too bad. overall I just don't see the attraction for this. Still a solid 1 star

Very solid and groundbreaking.

Whoa, that's right, Queen Latifah was a rapper prior to her acting career. That completely slipped my mind. This album was actually much better than the reviews would have you believe. When she was forcefully spitting verses, it reminded me of when she was yelling at Steve Martin in the movie "Bringing Down The House". Now thinking about it, it's actually wild she was a teenager when she recorded this album. Favorite Track: "Dance For Me".

Heard before?:❌️ Will listen again?:✔️

Better than I expected! Loved the De La Soul feature. High 3

Ugh no.

Okay so she paved the way, but the paving was done in the same herringbone pattern the whole album.

I mostly only know Queen Latifah as a general media personality. I've seen her on TV and in a couple movies, and I knew she started as a rapper, but I've never listened to her music before. I was not ready for how good she was All the other reviews on here talk about how dated this is, how extremely 1989, but I honestly think she was ahead of the game. Listen to the difference between her and Trugoy on the second track. Trugoy is still stuck in the cheesy 80s style while Queen Latifah feels like a sign of things to come. Still dated, but at least one step ahead. I haven't followed her career to know if she kept up with the times, I know there are plenty of rappers from this era that never really caught up. Dated or not, this was fantastic, if a little repetitive.

she should have had Will Smith’s career (before it got weird). Better rapper, better actor, just as charming.

There's a lot of hip hop that got left off this list to make room for this. Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children is my least favorite De La Soul song ever. The baby talk is one of the worst parts of any of the albums I've heard so far. Nina Sky loves Come into My House. There's a little bit of an overstuffed sound that was popular from some early hip hop. It's like DJs thought if they crammed enough sound into a song it would have something for everyone. Latifah's Law is like that and still my favorite song so far. I believe that Queen Latifah is the greatest female battle rapper in history. 80s/90s rappers loved moving into sitcom roles. Queen Latifah, LL Cool J and, king of cheesy rap, the Fresh Prince. Monie Love really puts Queen Latifah's skill in perspective because she sucks. There are so many more deserving hip hop albums.

The start is a bit rough, without much to say apart from I'm the queen. But as time went on, and a few listens, I got it more and more. It's not amazing and I don't think I need it in my life, but it is more solid than I initially thought

4/10

Late 80's hip hop has never done ot dor me. The fasion is terrible and the beats are so dated. I don't want to say this is bad, but its definitely not for me. Straight outta Compton is the closest I have been to enjoying this style of music, but that sounds miles away from this.

Hip/Hop really not a fan. The music is repetitive and rather boring to me. I did like that there was little foul language used just proving that foul language doesn't have to be used when singing Hip/Hop. I have to keep kudos to Queen Latifah as she was able to hold her own in the Hip/Hop genre. Does anybody else feel like when they hear one Hip/Hop song they have heard every Hip/Hop song?

Pretty simple and easy to vibe to, and she's a pretty good rapper, but it's also so very of its time.

Super-dated. And, erm, maybe the sound wasn’t that interesting to begin with. Props for “Ladies First” and “Evil That Men Do,” though. 2.5?

Queen can rhyme, but I doubt I'll ever come back to this one. Favorite track: Wrath of My Madness

Dana Owens aus Newark, New Jersey, war 19, als All Hail The Queen am 7. November 1989 bei Tommy Boy erschien. Aufgenommen wurde das Album in New York, unter anderem in den Calliope Productions, bei Island Media, in der Greene Street, im Studio 1212 und bei Power Play. Gemischt wurde teils bei Sanctuary, teils in London bei Gee Street. Musikalisch ist es Hip-Hop mit klarer Haltung, jazzig gefärbt und ohne Gangsta-Pose. Am stärksten bleibt für mich „Ladies First", gemeinsam mit Monie Love. Der Song ist zu Recht ihr bekanntester, aber ich höre „Wrath of My Madness" lieber. Das war schon 1988 die Single, die ihr den Vertrag brachte, und sie klingt rauer, als man es von einem Debüt erwartet. „Dance for Me" und „Come Into My House" zeigen die tanzbare Seite. „Latifah's Law" liegt dazwischen. Dazu kommen Gäste wie De La Soul, KRS-One und Daddy-O, die sich nie in den Vordergrund drängen. Mit 15 Titeln und gut einer Stunde Spielzeit ist das Album lang für 1989, und nicht jeder Track trägt gleich viel. Das stört mich kaum, weil Latifahs Stimme alles zusammenhält: tief, ruhig, ohne Hast. 2023 nahm die Library of Congress das Album in die National Recording Registry auf. Mich überrascht eher, wie wenig es gealtert ist.

Album cover is great, initially I did not care for it, but the covee actually suits the album well. One thing I really enjoyed is that the words spin circularly around Africa when the songs are playing. This album is very feminist, which is pretty cool for the time. I would rather listen to this 100 times over then ANY modern female rappers (Ice Spice, Cardi b, Megan Thee Stallion) genuinely all terrible. Queen Latifah is an artist that is extremely interesting to listen to, she has a great flow and speaks pretty cleanly. Her lyrics are generic on the surface, but actually are not bad at all, and each song is extremely focused. Each song contributes to the overall message of women empowerment, which was a novelty in the hiphop house space at the time. I was surprised to find out she only has around 2M monthly listeners on Spotify, because she is such an influential artist, both in her music and her message. And, for the first time in the history of music, genuinely good remixes at the end of the album. I listened to this twice today, and will be listening to it again. Best Song: Come into my House. Worst Song: Evil that Men do.

Exceptional rap album. She was ahead of her time and laid the groundwork for future generations. While I didn’t recognize any 1-song, every song seemed listenable. The Queen earned her title.

Good thing I know who I'm listening to because she says her name every song. All Hail the Queen by Queen Latifah is an infectiously funky early rap album, featuring quick rhymes and groovy beats. Every individual song is well crafted musically, but the lyrics are not notable. The phrase "Queen Latifah" appears 26 times in the album. That means, on average, her name is said 2.2 times in one song. It's almost all she raps about — herself and how she's the greatest at rapping. It starts to get repetitive when hearing the same thing every song. The beats, however fun, are also monotonous. The same saxophone and drums play in the background of every song. That being said, Queen Latifah frequently speaks on the important issue of gender equality, a topic that she navigates well. To ignore this side of her lyrics is to misrepresent the record as a whole — one that I must admit again, is extremely entertaining, even if it starts to become repetitive.

Queen Latifah? I knew her more as an actress than anything else. Sure, I knew she made music in the past, but I'd never listened to anything she’d recorded before today. I didn't know what to expect from her musically, but it absolutely wasn’t this. Opening track “Dance For Me” is incredible. Those samples, loops and beats are absolutely unreal. And Latifah’s rapping is brilliant. Aggressive, melodic and articulate. The rest of the album follows suit. This is exactly the kind of late 80s/early 90s hip-hop that I love, akin to the likes of Beastie Boys, Pharcyde and De La Soul. So it makes sense that De La Soul actually features on one of the tracks. The samples used to build up the frenetic energy of these tunes are fantastic. I hear Sly & the Family Stone, Kool & the Gang, The Meters and James Brown, among many others, blended together to create the music of these great tracks. I loved almost everything (with the exception of the outlier “Come into My House”), but “Dance For Me”, “Latifah’s Law”, “Wrath of My Madness” and “Queen of Royal Badness” are particularly class, mainly thanks to those funk-soaked samples yet again. So, yeah. I never would have expected Queen Latifah’s music to be anything like this. I’m sold. All hail the Queen.

not my taste

All Hail the Queen indeed-this woman has sass.

Rap with some hip-hop, jazz, reggae, and house thrown. The early songs are strong but the album falls away towards the end. I started with four stars, but ended with three.

Innovative and fresh at the time. Hip-hop without the MFing.

Last night l dreamt I was trapped in an endless cycle of 1001 rap records. I woke up and found I was trapped in an endless cycle of 1001 rap records. 2*

Queen Latifah is very much at the point of her career where it’s weird to think of her as a rapper. Probably was revolutionary at the time, but loses some spark. That being said, this is still good. I understand how she’s lasted so long as a multi-hyphenate.

On the tail end of 80s rap moving into the 90s, this is rap and pop as we now know it. The lyrics are very Queen Latifah, with that bright 90s clothing vibe. As one of hip-hop's first major female solo stars, she uses this album to push female empowerment, most famously alongside Monie Love on Ladies First. By blending traditional hip-hop with house and reggae influences, Queen Latifah crafts a solid snapshot of that era. Not a bad album, but it doesn't do enough to stand out as a classic. 6/10

This comes from an era of hip hop that I’m quite fond of. Great rhythms and playful delivery, but it’s not quite as clever and cohesive as De La Soul or Tribe.

Pretty good female rapper. Many songs were quite repetitive and I didn't really like the featureds.

Good rhythms, catchy, and with a big attitude. A little repetitive and songs merge into each other, except for a few tunes.

Siento que mucho de lo mismo

meh

This is fun, but may not like the most exciting version of rap that there ever was but it certainly is of its time! And I really do appreciate that. She sounds soooo young which is so fun, my first introduction to her is as a musical superstar so it's really enjoyable seeing her roots. What a queen (wink wink hehe).

this album was pure chaos, I liked the one where she was De La Soul's mum or something? Could never land on a style, is it house? dub? Who cares! So all over the shop it ended up being quite fun

This is a pretty impressive album for a 19 year old on which she proves that she’s talented on the mic and carved out the path for women in hip hop a genre which even now is largely male dominated. This album also comes from my favourite era of hip hop and she’s a member of the native tongues collective so we get features from the likes of de la soul and monie love. However, my gripes with this album is that while the house beats are for good they and the songs can get a bit repetitive and this album shows it’s age a lot more than it’s contemporary’s do which isn’t too much of a gripe but I find it tends to hurt hip hop more than any other genre as it’s constantly changing so even her rapping is very much in the style of 80’s rap which looks very silly compared to the 90’s sometimes which I think is a part of the charm of early hip hop

Definitely repetitive, definitely 90s (technically 1989), still enjoyable. Especially if you take it in context of the time, place, and artist. Some albums are timeless, some albums are time capsules, this is the latter. Regardless, it's still a classic.

Yeah not an 80s rap fan

Not my favorite, not as much flow as I remember.

Like the Jean-Michel Jarre album I respect the impact of Queen latifah and this album but it ain't very poorly and resulted in a mid album. Not just her but that era of hip Hop and boom bap rap is pretty lame and cringe now

Unfortunately, I just didn't feel anything when listening to this. Could've been my mood, but this just lacked the energy to get me into it.

FUNKYYY dit s echt GOEDE hiphop

Enjoyed

Hi, didn't think that was half bad

Alright

Beats aren't too shabby, but the Queen gets a bit repetitive with the lyrics. Tempos are all dance floor speed..except the reggae style tune. Latifah shows a mastery of styles, but doesn't establish her own.

It sounds older than the image of 1989 that I have in my mind. Feels more like 1987. While I appreciate Queen Latifah, her female bravado, and a few of the certified bops like Ladies First, I'm not moved by it as a whole. Is it a debut fitting for a Queen — I guess so, but it depends on how we feel about royalty, now doesn't it?

Consistently one of the most overrated performers of all time and this album proves it. Not a fan at all.

Her voice is amazing! Such a strong rapper and can sing beautifully too. It's like rock with strings

She is awesome. And it’s funky. It just doesn’t get me going. It’s not her, it’s me.

Exactly what the guy who wrote about this being produced by George H.W. Bush on the deck of the Exxon Valdez said

Love the oldschool hiphop vibes on this album. Love the oldschool drums etc. on this album. Not a bad album. So: 3/5

I will never understand what they were thinking when recording the skits/chipmunk voices on "Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children" - shit is annoying as hell and ruins an otherwise stellar song

Dated im sorry.

Great beats, samples, production, and rapping. This feels like a classic album. It's also consistently high quality despite being long.

Queen Latifah es una persona que hizo este album.

No estaba con ganas de escuchar música nueva de este tipo hoy. Fallé.

Ok 2/5

Not my favorite album but had some good moments.

Very repetitive and cheesy

03/09/2026 Tbh, I can get behind this music more than modern day guff. This was non offensive. Spotify listeners: 2.6 million

Good variety of backing beats but Queen Latifah manages to sound the same in every track. 2/5

I can't take Queen Latifah seriously as a rapper.

Meh.

Guys, I think her name is Latifah. I can't be sure though. I'll give this a high 3

This is NOT the right way to start off Sad Boy September

I love 80s Rap, it's always full of really interesting genre-mixing, like Run-DMC pioneering Rap Rock or whatever you call the Beastie Boys' style. Queen Latifah takes it in a different direction than those two, throwing in some House and Reggae in there, and of course, saxophones. There's no such thing as a genre that doesn't benefit form saxophones. That and gay people. It's always the gay people making the good stuff on this list. Women, too. I love women and saxophones and gay people, so an album with all three is bound to be pretty good.

Another hip-hop album from 1989. Hip-hop is generally not my genre of choice, and this one definitely didn't change my mind. I must confess it swings—the horns are nice, but as it turns out, those are just samples. Honestly, I'd rather check out the original soul and funk songs those samples were taken from instead of listening to them endlessly looped here. Though "Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children"—which actually features De La Soul—has that more organic, upbeat, and less aggressive vibe that I think is quite cool. Unfortunately, the rest of the album doesn't keep that up; the continuous name-dropping throughout the tracks gets really irritating. Plus, that dance and house music influence that creeps in is really not my thing. While it has some decent musical elements buried in the mix, an album like this is just a struggle for me to get through. It’s not for me. This is a 2-star album—back down to the usual rap rating territory.

It’s honestly surprising that more people don’t talk about this. Unmistakably “old school” but the production here still feels very fresh, with hooks that really kill compared to other early hip hop.

Yea boi

I liked it at first, but it did become repetitive around halfway through. Then I just wanted it to be over already

I confess I knew Queen Latifah more for her acting than her music prior to this. But she's a cool lady and I enjoyed this! I wasn't sold on the first few tracks but from Latifah's Law onwards I was on board.

She's Not My Queen.

A good listen - I love Ladies First (but the other version.... oooooohhh ladies first, ladies first) Not much to say really - I think this is the most fun era of rap when people were trying out samples and it s crazy how she was only 19 when this record was released.

A lot of fun but way too long!

One of the og female rap albums and one that still holds up well over time. While perhaps a bit dated, the songs still bang. Latifah is a very skilled rapper, just straight up great at spitting. The beats have an old school feel to them and I like them too, maybe except for the house-inspired tracks. The rest of the album is really good luckily.

This lands somewhere between Ms. Dynamite and Lauryn Hill

Iconic. But also the same sound over and over again. 3-4 rats.

Nothing super special about this.

1 hour of Queen Latifah reminding everyone she's a queen... beats are funky at least

This generator refuses to give me good albums. Ill skip this one for today. im tired man. Yeah its not great. I dont think shes a good rapper, well shes ok. And its dated as fuck. Not a bad album their is some fun songs...but theirs also bad filler tracks.

The sound on here brings me right back to 6th grade. I can picture the Valentine's Day dance with boys standing awkwardly on one side of the gym while the girls stood on the other. Something like this would have almost certainly been playing. While I wasn't wowed by this album, its ability to transport me back in time to such a specific memory is definitely fun.

Here we have our second entry on this list from the Native Tongues Collective following Done by the Forces of Nature which, believe it or not, was released on the same day as this record. Queen Latifah even makes an apperance on the amazing posse cut off of it. Native Tongues makes sense for a list like this, as they are thoughtful with their lyricism and rhymes and innovative with their beats. I haven’t fallen in love with as much of the albums as I expected so far, but I do love some individual tracks from Tribe and De La Soul. We aren’t listening to them yet, though. I haven’t listened to anything from Queen Latifah before and I was pretty excited and came out merely “whelmed”. The rapping ability and penmanship is on point but the beats leave a bit to be desired in my opinion. There are strong moments but they don’t typically go anywhere super interesting and some projects I’ve heard from this era certainly were doing more with their production, such as Eric B on his records with Rakim and even those on the Jungle Brothers record I mostly preferred. Queen Latifah definitely had plenty of ability but I was expecting this to be a bit more fun to listen to. Overall, this was still solid and a super important record. 1 listen Favorite Tracks: Latifah’s Law, Ladies First

Enjoyed this, though she is not my favorite rapper. Great person and actress.