Queen Latifah inspires with "Unity in the Community"

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Margaret Hargrove: Hi, listeners. I'm Audible Editor Margaret Hargrove, and today I'm honored to be speaking with singer, rapper, actor, and producer Queen Latifah. Born Dana Owens, the Newark native burst onto the hip-hop scene in the 1980s with her debut album, All Hail the Queen, and she has transformed the entertainment industry ever since. The Grammy, Emmy, and Golden Globe winner recently teamed up with Audible to host Unity in the Community, a seven-episode podcast celebrating the everyday, unsung heroes who are making a positive impact on their communities and the whole world. Welcome to Audible, Queen Latifah.

Queen Latifah: Thank you so much. Thanks for having me.

MH: First, let me say, I loved Unity in the Community. It's so positive, uplifting, really encouraging, and I literally got goosebumps every single time the saxophone notes from your 1993 anthem "U.N.I.T.Y." played during the intro of each of the seven episodes. I thought that was a really great touch.

QL: Thank you.

MH: You've always been very active and involved in your community. And on your hit CBS drama, The Equalizer, your role is helping right the wrongs in society and empowering people who don't have the money or access to help themselves. Why did you want to add to your repertoire of activism with this podcast? What do you hope it will accomplish?

QL: Well, first of all, I love that it's an Audible podcast. So many of my friends are listening to life and listening to stories and spending time driving in their cars or working out or walking and listening. And it's important what you listen to; it affects you. It's important for me and for my partner, and our company, Flavor Unit, to try to put some positive things out into the world, and it always has been. So, Unity in the Community is the perfect vehicle to do that, because these are real-life people with real-life stories who are making things happen in the world. And I think people will feel like they aren't quite so small, like what they're capable of doing can have an impact in their own way, that good things are happening in their communities.

MH: With the current state of affairs in the world, where things can often feel crazy and out of control, can you tell me why now? Why does this time feel like the right time to have a podcast celebrating community leaders, who are the glue keeping their neighborhoods together?

QL: I think we are in an information age where we get so much information. We're bombarded with so many things, and it's hard to cut through a lot of it sometimes. So, to really hear and know that there are people right next to you, right in your own community, that are doing such impactful things, such positive things, to have such a positive impact on your very own community and the world, is important to hear. And especially hearing these stories in detail. You're hearing these stories from the roots to fruition. So, you can hear how someone who you may think is Queen Latifah started off in East Orange, New Jersey, or Newark, New Jersey, and was able to inspire someone just by being a regular kid in the community who decided to maybe say something in a certain way, or change the way she wore her hat, or the way she wore her clothes, or the message she had to say. And this is what is so homegrown and so natural about all these stories that we feel can really have a positive effect on everyone who listens.

"In times where things can be so scary, so frightening, if we realize that we can pull together and we can be so much stronger together, we can accomplish so many more things when we spread love and we care about our neighbor."

MH: Talking about some of the stories, they really range. There's a lot of diversity of perspectives and a lot of topics that are included in Unity. We have Walter Green, a Newark, New Jersey, restaurant owner who fed his community ravaged by COVID during the height of the pandemic. We also have Kevin Grant, a local leader helping high-risk youth in Oakland, California. There are other activists featured who are working to preserve and protect other underrepresented communities, including Native Americans, migrant workers, and Asian Americans. What is it that you're ultimately trying to shine a light on here?

QL: I don't think there's a specific, ultimate thing that I can say I'm trying to shine a light on other than the unity of it all. I think in times where things can be so scary, so frightening, if we realize that we can pull together and we can be so much stronger together, we can accomplish so many more things when we spread love and we care about our neighbor, that we care about each other and show that unity. Yeah, that's the only through line, I think, is the fact that people have taken their time to care about someone else. And it doesn't require you to just wait until the time is right. People took action when they saw something happening and they felt like they had to do something. And they might not have been sure what that was at the time. And so I think it's really important for people who have a heart and people who may have just seen way too many bad news stories and maybe are jaded or a little cynical then to melt their heart a little bit, to warm it up a little bit, and let them know that there's still a lot of love in this world and a lot of love to share. So, I think that would be the ultimate message, is sharing that love and being unified together.

MH: I was really touched by Rashida Govan's story. She's featured in the last episode of Unity in the Community. She's a New Orleans educator and her Project Butterfly encourages African American girls to become the strongest, most empowered versions of themselves. To hear one of her students, Shanaya, talk about how Rashida has helped her feel protected; she sees her worth, she listens to her and gives her a voice, which is often not the norm for young Black women in America. It was really inspiring, especially myself as a mom of a young Black child. Is there a particular story or activist featured in the podcast that touched you in a particular way?

QL: I feel connected to every story in the podcast, to be honest with you, because I can see myself or one of my family members or one of my friends, or someone I met in business life, I can see us in every story—my history—in these stories, and even my local community. Walter Green from Newark, I see right in my own neighborhood. So, there's a part of me that can relate to all of these stories. And I think everyone can relate to these stories when they listen to them. But I think maybe I mentioned Walter because I feel like he did something very heroic at a very scary time in our history, decided to help out when the whole world shut down and sacrificed his own business to a degree to help other people have a meal. And sometimes we get so far ahead of ourselves. Sometimes it's as simple as food on your plate and a roof over your head, clothes on your back. It becomes very simple and very basic. And when your basic needs aren't being met, but someone helps out to make sure that your basic needs are met, I just thought it was really important that he wasn't looking so far down the line. It was like, "What do we need right now at this terrifying time? I'm just as scared as you. But I know how to do this. So let me help out someone who can't."

So, I related to all the stories just like you did. I'm thankful to be a Black girl who shared her voice, who was taught how to use her voice by her mom and other people, other people in my own family, my dad as well. And I think these are empowering stories for those who don't have someone who is there for them. To just hear themselves and see themselves in these stories, and hopefully feel something, feel some sort of connection or some empowerment.

MH: Who would you say this podcast is for? Who do you hope listens to Unity in the Community besides every single Audible listener? [laughs]

QL: I hope every single Audible listener, every person who was ever a Queen Latifah fan will listen to these podcasts, and the Flavor Unit fans, and friends, and absolute strangers, people who have never heard and it was like, "Who are they? What is this about?" Be curious and listen. Check it out. I think anyone who listens to this podcast will be hooked from the very first story. They'll have to listen to them all because they'll be curious as to how these stories unfold. Who these people are and how these stories end and what happens next. So that's something worth listening to. It's for everyone.

MH: Definitely. You're an actor, singer, rapper, and former talk show host. But can you tell me what was it like narrating Unity in the Community? You narrated your memoir, Put on Your Crown, which came out in 2010. What was it like to step back into the recording booth for this podcast?

QL: To step back in the recording booth for this process, for this podcast, was such a positive thing to be able to do because I'm listening to it as I'm narrating it. So, it's impacting me as I'm reading it. And I'm thinking, "I'm just blown away by each person in each story and what they're able to accomplish and how they cared about other people and how so many people still need help. And how powerful one person's voice or one person's actions or one person’s stance can be." It made me feel even more proud to be a part of this project, I must say. It reminded me that we need to keep doing projects like this so that people can hear this, so that people can know what's going on and hear stories from people they may never have heard from before.

MH: So, speaking about your projects with Audible, Audible is based in Newark, which is also your hometown. Can you tell me what was it like to partner with a company that is so close to home?

QL: I think it's fantastic to partner with Audible. I think it's been such a wonderful company to have based right out of Newark, New Jersey, for such a long time. So close to us, part of our roots, right up the block. You can walk right to the front door, with permission [laughs]. You know, right along with the museum or Whole Foods or City Hall or Military Park, or the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, there's Audible, you know? So, it's a stone's throw from the churches I went to growing up, the parks I played in, the trains I took, the buses I took, the places where I got my hair done. Audible is Newark, you know, and Audible is the world. So, to be partnered with a company that's right there, it just feels like a wonderful connection and something that I think will inspire the community around us, to let everyone know you can always come home, you can always do business right here and make it happen for yourselves.

We have a hustle spirit in Newark. I think it's a Jersey thing. Not to brag, but I'm just thinking there's nowhere in the world I've been where I haven't met someone from Newark, the Newark area, or from Jersey. We have something that we just grow up with. We're exposed to things. We're not quite New York. We're not Philly. We're just kind of right there tucked in between, where we get this exposure to so much. But still, we're kind of protected in a way. And we want to fly around the world, we're ready to go. So, we carry that Jersey spirit wherever we go. But we always want to come home for some reason, even if we go around the world. And it feels good when we do. And when we do, we kind of want to do something. So, it's just this spirit that makes me proud to be partnered with Audible and always be able to come home and do business right at home.

MH: Awesome. Your partnership with Audible has also included screenwriter Michael Elliot's memoir, Streets, Rhymes, & ‘Sugar’ that came out last summer. And I heard from my friends here that you're also working on a scripted romantic comedy, which, as the romance editor for Audible, I am very happy to hear about. What else can Audible listeners expect from you soon?

QL: Oh, just keep your eyes peeled for anything coming from Flavor Unit or Queen Latifah because, of course, Mike Elliot is one of our great partners throughout the years. We've worked with him on Just Right and many other projects. So, it was great for him to do his memoir here. But he is just stacked full of more things for us to produce together. And, of course, with our wonderful relationships in the acting community, and the community at large and the business community, just allowing more stories to be told and cast a great cast. So, that's what I'm looking forward to, is just partnering up with some of my friends who do what I do and allowing other stories, other producers and directors to kind of bring their stories to us, to partner up with Audible to do. So, just look for great things to come up the line.

"Audible is Newark, you know, and Audible is the world... it just feels like a wonderful connection and something that I think will inspire the community around us, to let everyone know you can always come home, you can always do business right here and make it happen for yourselves."

MH: Cool. I can't wait. So, you're such a boss. You're kicking butt, taking names on The Equalizer. I watch it every weekend with my daughter. She loves it.

QL: Wow.

MH: You received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the BET Awards in 2021. So, what's next for Queen Latifah? Any chance we can get more music or maybe a Living Single reunion, please? Pretty please [laughs].

QL: Kind of the name of my memoir, A Good Night's Sleep, right? There we go. There it is. It just doesn't stop. I think definitely more music. I mean, I love still doing the jazz standards and singing, and rhyming is just like second nature. So, I have so much music that I've already recorded and I'm just kind of sitting on, waiting to compile in the right way and share with the world. So, there's always music. Music goes wherever I go. So, you may see me doing The Equalizer, but when I get off work from The Equalizer, I'm playing something on my three strings on my guitar and making up a new song. I mean, music is kind of what I do when I get off work.

MH: Okay.

QL: I never get tired of making music. So, hopefully, I'll get to share some more of that with the world and some film projects this summer that I'm working on. It'll just be more film, more music, more who knows? Back doing CoverGirl again. And so more from CoverGirl. And we just have to kind of watch and see. I never even know what's going to happen sometimes because I'm always staying loose because life can be spontaneous like that.

MH: Right.

QL: You never know what opportunities will come up the line and I just say, "You know what? That, I want to do that." So, you and your daughter have to keep watching.

MH: Well, during the Christmas break, I was watching a lot of reruns of Living Single because I love to watch reruns, and she knows you from The Equalizer. So, we had this moment, she's like, "Wait, isn't that the lady that's on The Equalizer?" I was like, "Actually, honey, it's not just The Equalizer…” So, it was like an aha moment for her too.

QL: I love that. I love that you get to share that together. And I just got to keep doing what I do because in every generation, we'll get to have a different version of Queen Latifah. Some people knew me as a rapper only, then it was like an actor and they're like, "What, she raps?" My nephews for a period of time called me Auntie Ellie because I played a woolly mammoth in Ice Age, the animated movie. And they saw that movie and they were like, "Auntie Ellie”—that was my character's name. For months, they called me Auntie Ellie. But I take it all as a blessing. And I'm thankful that God has blessed me to have such an interesting career and life and be able to still do what I love, which is explore all these sides and do all these things. But Living Single, that's just special. We still all talk, we still all celebrate each other and support each other. And if they can ever figure out how to do a reunion, I'm sure we would all be down because we still love each other. And we still got the skills. So, we would love it too.

MH: Definitely. We would definitely love that. Well, thank you, Queen Latifah, for your time today. Unity in the Community is proof that we can all change things for the better. And the best place to start is right at home. Listeners, Unity in the Community is available now, exclusively on Audible.