All Hail the Queen

Es klingt wie ein Album, das in einer Endlosschleife aus zu kurz gesampelten SP‑1200‑Loops feststeckt. Die Tracks ploppen und knistern monoton vor sich hin – wie das Zerdrücken von Luftpolsterfolie, nur ohne den Spaßfaktor.

It's pretty good. Kind of repetitive. Not a hip-hop fan, so not terribly excited about this.

This was funnnn. I didn’t know Queen Latifah was bringing it like this. Will be revisiting.

It's very fine. Early hip hop is always so wholesome sounding and quaint. Rap is such a young genre that 80s rap gives the same vibes as 50s rock to me, just a very distinct window to a different time. I respect it, and there are a couple songs that really show what a force Queen Latifah was on the mic. It's not going into my rotation, but 3 stars to respect the elders.

This is getting some hate for being dated, and sure, it is a bit, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. Loved to see De La Soul turn up on "Mama Gave Birth" (and enjoyed the Prince Paul production). Latifah's Law is also good. I found the reggae-tinged tracks less effective. I think it just crosses the bar of four stars though.

I confess that until today I have never heard any music at all from Queen Latifah. At least not that I know of. I know who she is of course, mostly as an actor. I am not a hip hop fan at all so I don't think this will be one that I am particularly going to like...
Ok so admittedly I wasn't really paying attention while most of this album played. I didn't hear any of the normal hip hop tropes - misogyny, violence, self-aggrandizing, etc. - but I can't say for sure that those things weren't there. I suspect not. But from what I did hear this was basically the same beat and the same vocal line all they way through. And did I hear some muppets or something in there? I do appreciate all of the feminist issues brought up in this record, that was kind of a nice thing to hear in a genre that, as a rule, thinks it's fun and witty to degrade women. Anyway this is still not my thing but I suppose it wasn't as bad as almost all hip hop albums I've listened to up until now. 2/5

I forced myself to listen to this crap. Three tracks, different parts each time, and it sounded equally stupid throughout. After that, I didn't feel like wasting any more of my time on it. 1/5

I didn't expect to like this, but it's great. I see why she is one of the most reference artist in modern music. My favorites were The Pros and Princess of the Posse. A lot of people mentioned it being dated. Maybe, but good music doesn't have to be dependent on a time period. This is great no matter when you listen.

gets pretty repetitive

Good voice and diction. I like that accent, alhough I can't really tell the difference between her and Salt n Pepa (is that blasphemy? Are they from the same place?).
Mama Give Birth is horrific with the creepy fake baby voice. But the rest is bearable.

Better than Coldplay

Jazzy Native Tongues beats with a classic old school boom bap basis incorporating lots of reggae funk and soul samples, agile rapping going through verse after boastful verse, and poppy RnB hooks/choruses. One of the best sounding classic hip hop albums of the 80s, this holds up way better than most of its peers.

It’s not exactly fair to have to listen to this one on a weekend! I’ve never listened to Queen Latifah before, and to be honest, I knew going in that All Hail the Queen probably wouldn’t be my thing.

That said, it was slightly better than I expected. It’s very much a product of its time — classic late ’80s hip hop with that dated sound — but there’s still some charm to it. I wouldn’t listen to it again, though.

Favourite track: Dance for Me was okay.
Least favourite track: Pretty much everything else.
Album artwork: Not one I’d be hanging on the wall at home.

She did great rhymes on a production that sounded so familiar. Turns out Prince Paul of De La Soul helped produce her album, and it totally shows. It hits all those 90s transition rap sounds. Everyone in the 80s had synths, she tapped on a straight up house beat.

I’m at a 3.5 that I’ll barely bump up to a 4, though I don’t think it deserves it.

Weirdly, I sometimes forget Queen Latifah is one of the more accomplished women in R&B / hip-hop history, mainly because she’s settled much more into an acting career for a lot of my lifetime. She’s deeply recognizable, for sure, but I always associated her as a singing actress as opposed to a trailblazer of sorts for women in the genre. She made this album when she was 19, so I was a little predisposed to give some benefit of the doubt towards the flaws here.

Honestly, I’m not sure there are truly that many flaws. As far as production goes, The 45 King (who you WILL know by the end of this album) does a great job with some really strong variety, including some jazzier stuff & a house-inspired lean on a few tracks, with lots of good samples too. KRS-One gets in an interesting beat too. As far as the rapping goes, Queen Latifah’s on point here; save for a slightly shaky start to the album where she feels a tad off-beat, she really finds a good rhythm throughout this thing, and her technical skills never come into question afterwards. She does set herself up for some really strong future success here. Overall, as far as the “flaws” go, there’s certainly not many on the technical side of things. If you’re here for the beats & the flows, you’re in for a solid 49 minutes.

There is one, very, very obvious… let’s not say “flaw”, but let’s go with annoying consistency throughout this album. Queen Latifah cannot stop introducing herself. This is an album entirely composed of raps about herself, save for maybe 2 or 3 tracks. She is fighting invisible enemies throughout this whole thing. They can’t touch her flow, she’s the baddest MC, the ladies watch her glow, while the men should all flee; she’s the best, they’re the worst, she’s the star, they’re the dirt – nobody can touch her, lest they get burnt; she can’t be beat, she’ll make you stomp your feet, & all these sucka wack men can’t rhyme on Mark’s beats. Do you see what I’m getting at here? Every song has the same general structure / topic matter (HERSELF!), and while it’s disguised pretty well for most of the album, at a certain point, it just becomes so patently obvious that it just loses its edge by the end.

The fact that she has a multitude of tracks of her bragging about her talent wouldn’t even be an issue if more tracks had something to say, like the fantastic “Ladies First” (seriously, why wasn’t Monie Love bigger?), or “Evil That Men Do”, but… damn, it really is just a whole album bragging about herself beyond very few tracks. It’s honestly enough to make me strongly consider bumping it down to a 3. However, when this album is rolling (& it rolls STRONG through “Ladies First”, slowing down a bit afterward), it’s a treat to listen to. There are moments here where her flow evokes Chuck D / Public Enemy as much as it does Run-DMC, so she’s clearly taking her inspirations and tweaking them to her own style. As I said, it’s not a technically bad album. A few flatter beats at points, but her rapping is strong, & her flows are good. Hell, the lyricism isn’t even bad despite most of the tracks being new & creative ways to praise herself – there are really good bars / wordplay here for someone who was only 19 when they recorded this.

I want to give this a 4. I don’t think it’s really earned it, and I’m certainly much closer to a 3 after laying this all out in writing. This is probably the most 3.5-y 3.5 that there’s ever been, because it’s better than a 3 on account of her talent & these beats generally coming through in a way that feels energetic for 1989, even if it’s deeply dated to the era. It’s not a 4 because the album is both too long & too repetitive for its own good, and yet I cannot shake the whole “she’s only 19” thing here. It feels like an album designed in a way where most of the tracks could be released as singles or radio if they so chose, allowing a strong introduction in a variety of styles & beats. It’s not a great album experience because of that, but it’s a technically sound set of 12 tracks that never really lets down at any point; the messaging just gets stale, even if it’s full of fun individual listens. I’m going to bump this up, but… damn, it just doesn’t feel like it’s earned it. A very, very shaky bump to a 4.

Edit: Yes, another rare use of the edit feature here for me to say "why the hell didn't I bump this down to a 3?", and rectifying that by doing so. I promise I won't do this that much more, but... this one really needs it.

It’s okay, got boring after the first five tracks

'This ain't the best you've ever / Hear coming from a female MC.' Right she is, since the best female emceeing shines from Lauryn or Missy, objectively, but w/ Roxanne and Lyte, Latifah effectively started the whole thing: Salt-N-Pepa is an ancienter form, something like the Whodini of female hip-hop. In many ways, Dana is the most original of the three. Mostly rhyming about dope rhyming - dopely I grant - she's also backed by superior production, supported by Native-Tongue features (De La, Monie Love), and has an ear for a compelling alloy of genres. As she puts it: 'Hip-hop house, hip-hop jazz, w/ a little pizazz.' I concede that after an hour, the old-school sound is no longer as exciting as it is dated, but this is a classic with a capital C.

Funky, conscious rhymes. There's funny stuff and not-so-funny stuff, and it all makes sense. Adding another album to my stack of early nineties hip hop favorites. I love the feminist vibe, cooling off the sometimes prevalent misogyny of the time and the genre.

Not a big deal for me

This was a pretty trailblazing album for women in hip hop (and the genre in general I guess), but it's not perfect, and the beats and production are a bit dated. Lots of really great songs though (Dance for Me, Come into my House, Latifah's Law, Ladies First, Evil That Men Do), and she is a very skilled rapper. The house beats are very danceable, even though they are quite "of the time" and a bit repetitive.

The baby voice on "Mama Gave Birth to the Soul Children" is unforgivable though, she loses a full star for that.