Album Reviews |

Adele



All Hail The Queen 8½ ( 1989 )
Dance For Me / Mama Gave Birth To The Soul Children / Come Into My House / Latifah's Law / Wrath Of My Madness / The Pros / Ladies First / A King and Queen Creation / Queen Of Royal Badness / Evil That Men Do / Princess Of The Possee / Inside Out

Better known these days for her acting, way back when, Queen Latifah was busy creating one of the finest Hip-Hop debuts ever laid down. Quite apart from her operating in a male-dominated industry and dealing with the inherent sexism Rap/Hip-Hop seemed to have at the time - Queen Latifah just does what she does, positively. There's no tit for tat and her actual rap skills, lyrical skills and flow are most accomplished anyway. Naturally, I wasn't expecting much from this, like many, I didn't see Queen Latifah as a rapper no more. Indeed, her recent excursions into music have all but ditched the rapping altogether. A lot of the music by the way is courtesy of DJ Mark the 45 King and mighty danceable it is, too. Other guests on the album include Monie Love, De La Soul and KRS One. The first three tracks are all stunning and it's these I shall focus on first of all, quite naturally. 'Dance For Me' clicks and rolls, showcases her rapping very well indeed over and above the simple, yet incredibly funky backing track. 'Mama Gave Birth To The Soul Children' features De La Soul and you can tell. Indeed, Latifah has been generous with this debut LP in the time she gives over to other artists. All the guest spots are worthy and all help diversify the LP overall. Third up then, the club smash 'Come Into My House', something that would only need the slightest of tweaks to bring it bang upto date, quite impressive.

Diversity? Well, there's a couple of things on the LP that sound kinda Reggae/Dancehall. We've fast and slow tracks, no mid-tempo madness for Queen Latifah. 'Ladies First' is another spicy dancey gem and 'Queen Of Royal Badness' has just the right amount of attitude. I've been meaning to review this LP for awhile, by the way. Rap/Hip-Hop is slightly different to talk about than the usual indie/rock I tend to review. I may be a jack of all trades and master of none when it comes to musical appreciation, well, as far as a hardcore rap fan is concerned anyway - but you don't need to be a musicologist nor a musical snob to appreciate all sorts of things. 'All Hail To The Queen' has grooves, rhythm, excitement, great lyrics and Queen Latifah? All hail indeed and it should be so in houses of all musical flavours - don't miss this one out.

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