Queen Latifah - Persona (2009)

Queen Latifah (AKA Dana Elaine Owens), if nothing else, is well-versed in the art of the flip. Ever since her auspicious 1989 debut, All Hail the Queen, Queen Latifah has channeled her charismatic, regal, yet round-the-way personality into a successful sitcom, talk show, movie roles, a cosmetic line and an upcoming fragrance. In the last few years, Queen Latifah's return to the studio has showcased more of a classic vocal approach than contemporary (the well-received 2004's The Dana Owens Album and 2007's Trav'lin Light), but this time she returns to a more street-savvy style, mixing hip-hop, R&B and even fringes of synthesized rock and club-ready dance tracks for her seventh release, Persona.

To say that Queen Latifah mixes it up this time around is an understatement: just as she does in her film works, the Newark, NJ native veers from one identity to another with speed and self-assurance.  "If I had to categorize it, it would be more like hip-hop urban alternative," she recently told The L.A. Times, and indeed, most of the fourteen tracks (produced with Cool & Dre) blend both R&B riffs and rap rhymes that alternate perspective and musicality. As expected, there's sky-is-the-limit swagger-infused positivity by way of "The Light," the hypnotic, pulsating 80's-esque single "Cue the Rain," and a techno-edged romp entitled "Fast Car," featuring an exuberant and tangy cameo by Missy Elliott. "Long Ass Week" is the designated "wind-down-for-the-weekend-and-get-your-drink-on" jam, while "Take Me Away (with You)," provides more of a sensuous vibe thanks to its inclusion of Marsha Ambrosius.  "People" features The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige, crooning alongside Latifah's hip-hop delivery as the two encourage overlooking other's faults because some folks just don't know any better: "it sometimes make you want to do harm," she says of life's detractors, "but you fall back because you're too calm, to get all rowdy and evil, cuz' you realize at the end of the day, they're just people."

No one is completely impervious to life's pitfalls, however, and Latifah bears her fair share here as well: "Runnin" finds Latifah struggling to find her footing in a chaotic love affair, "Hard To Love Ya" (with Dre from Cool & Dre, Shawn Stockman and Busta Rhymes) pits her affections in direct competition with her man's rap hustle, and in one of the most hardcore tracks in her considerable catalog, "The World," she weaves her trials in life with its hard-earned lessons using a taut, tongue-twisting flow: "I smoked upon a blunt to get the pain to go away, but it wouldn't go away, just subsided through the daze. As I drifted off in deeper thoughts, I probed my mind and searched my heart, finally what was done to me was just as clear as day. I figured out what's stressing me, depressing me, Mommy that man molested me, oh no...."       

Overall, Queen Latifah's verve and versatility make Persona work, give or take a few tracks that come off a tad contrived ("The Couch") or vacuous ("With You"); and although her saucy soprano remains on-point, hearing her resume the inimitable rapping style that put her on the map to begin with also makes it worth some memory space in your iPod.  As for anyone who mistakes her switching it up for selling out, The Queen clarifies her stance in the autobiographical opus, "Over the Mountain": "I've been keeping the faith all these years, you know, keeping it hip-hop, spreading my wings, trying different things....trying to expand the game."  And with skills like these, it's guaranteed that listeners will want to go wherever this pioneering performer takes them. 

By Melody Charles