Testing Queen Latifah's Music Knowledge

The Track Star Podcast

In this episode of The Track Star Podcast, host Jack quizzes legendary artist Queen Latifah on her deep musical knowledge across hip hop, so

Key takeaways

• Queen Latifah recalls how 'Rapper's Delight' by The Sugarhill Gang revolutionized the Newark music scene.
• Latifah credits Dolly Parton with teaching her how to carry herself with confidence and pride.

Main topics

• Hip hop history
• Native Tongues collective

Notable quotes

the way dolly carried herself made you feel like oh that's gotta own this and have fun and just be me

Conclusion

A nostalgic journey through the musical influences that shaped a hip h

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Before we start the music, just introduce yourself. Hey, Speaker 2 (0:02) this is Queen Speaker 1 (0:02) Latifah. I'm a track star. Alright, I'm gonna play you some songs. Okay. All you gotta do is tell me who the artist is. Speaker 3 (0:11) One, two, three. Woo! Speaker 2 (0:16) Okay, so, yeah, Sugarhill Gang. Speaker 1 (0:20) Take me back. Speaker 2 (0:21) I'm 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 was probably like nine or, 10 or 12 minutes long. 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. Speaker 2 (0:50) 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. Speaker 1 (0:59) 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 Speaker 2 (1:08) don't think it was on my radar to be able to rap 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 fad Yeah, Speaker 1 (1:20) there Speaker 2 (1:21) was no way it was gonna be a fad like 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 Speaker 3 (1:40) It's me and Mr. Jones. Me Speaker 2 (1:42) and Mr. Jones, Amy Winehouse. What Speaker 3 (1:44) kind Speaker 2 (1:45) of, I guess we should just Speaker 1 (1:47) talk about it. Speaker 2 (1:50) Or we could sing it. What kind of fuckery is this? Come on. I love Amy Winehouse. I love this song. Especially since he's talking about Slick Rick and her voice was just like unlike anybody else's. And to be so young sounding like this and just catching that vibe, that beat, just Speaker 1 (2:08) beautiful. and timeless. Play Speaker 2 (2:09) it right now. Go find it. Play it right now. Speaker 3 (2:17) That's Speaker 2 (2:17) Dolly Parton right there. You got Speaker 1 (2:19) to work with her. We Speaker 2 (2:21) did a movie called Joyful Noise together. She wrote like five songs for that. Speaker 1 (2:24) New Speaker 2 (2:25) York radio back then was definitely different and