Queen Latifah

My mom was my main influence growing up, and Phylicia Rashad reminded me a lot of my mother, just the way she handled certain things, she was... not soft-spoken but smooth-spoken. Just very calm, cool, collected about things.

My mother wouldn't allow me to speak slang when I was growing up. But when I got outside, around my friends, it was 'Yo' and 'That's the joint' and 'Yo, what's up?' So I had my game for my friends and my game for my mom.

Lets be clear, Dolly Parton is a rapper. Somewhere before all the country, I don't know what happens up there in the mountains when you're growing up, but she has been spitting rhymes for a very long time - 50 years I'd say.

When I was growing up, there were so many musicals you could watch. I like the fantasy of musicals and I love music.

A confident woman is a sexy woman, in my opinion. And I think guys find that to be the same way.

I was taught from a young age that many people would treat me as a second-class citizen because I was African-American and because I was female.

I want to see 10 female rappers getting regular rotation. It can't be all about a man's opinion.

To me, hip hop will never be right until female rappers have a stronger voice in it.

Award shows, like the Grammys, were tough on us early in hip-hop, not even televising our categories or splitting them up on best male or female or any of that. We had to earn them.

The objectification of females is not a good thing! Not every rapper does this, but when the lyrics focus solely on the strip club, 'poppin' bottles' and how many girls they can 'tap,' it distorts what kids are learning. I think if there was more of a female presence in hip hop we could break up the monotony. It's all about balance.

I made decisions that I regret, and I took them as learning experiences... I'm human, not perfect, like anybody else.

I am a strong woman with or without this other person, with or without this job, and with or without these tight pants.