Queen Latifah Eyes Music Comeback, Looking to Team Up with Hip-Hop Stars

After a 16-year break from the studio, Queen Latifah says she's open to making music again. She's got her sights on working with stars like Doechii, Megan Thee Stallion, and Missy Elliott.

"I love Doechii. I would do anything with Doechii," Latifah told Us Weekly. "She is dope. She sounds like she's from my era. She drew from all the great rappers of my era, for sure, and she produces. She can do no wrong in my eyes."

Since her last album in 2009, she's kept busy in other fields. At 55, she's writing new songs and wants to mix it up with the current chart-toppers.

The Oscar-nominated actress joined Megan Thee Stallion during her Coachella appearance this year, where she performed her hit tracks "Plan B" and "U.N.I.T.Y." Yet they still haven't made their first recording together.

She is also down to collaborate with her old pal, Missy Elliott. Their last hit, "Fast Car," dropped in 2009, and their bond still runs deep. Latifah brought Elliott into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2019, while Elliott repaid the honor four years later by praising her at the Kennedy Center.

"I would love to work with Missy again," Latifah expressed. "[Missy and I] have a couple of records that we have never put out through the years. I have so much music that I haven't put out that I need to put out. I already have half the collaborations that I would've wanted to do."

She acknowledged that a lot of music is different from her rap style in the 1980s, so she's considering branching into fresh sounds. House beats call her name since it's a style she's known since day one. Jazz and reggae projects also spark her interest.

Starting in hip-hop during the 1980s, she watched the trends shift. Now, she's ready to step back in and shake things up again. As one of hip-hop's first women stars, she made the music mainstream when few thought it possible.