Queen Latifah

I enjoy just being me. I don't need to be Queen Latifah, the brand, 24 hours a day.

I want every day to be life for the living, not just traipsing through it existing. I'm just interested in life and the world and exploring.

There are a lot of people who helped make Queen Latifah who she is today. I don't forget, but a lot of people do and get big heads. My mom will make me walk the dogs or take out the trash when I go home. I'm not allowed to get a big head; I've still got to do the simple things in life.

As a rapper, you sort of act in music videos and in the persona you adopt onstage. You kinda have to put yourself out there and be courageous even to be a rapper. So, to step into acting was not that difficult a transition to make.

I'm not one of those people who wake up chatting. I usually don't want to speak for the first 10 or 20 minutes. And I don't really want you to talk to me either!

I enjoy going to work and having a good time. It's tough when you got to work with people who just are in a bad mood all the damn time.

I always loved all kinds of music. I would watch musicals a lot as a kid, on TV, watch the Fred Astaire movies. I'd watch 'The Wizard of Oz.' I was a big Jerry Lewis fan, and they'd have these big bands and someone singing - some siren, or some guy singing some gorgeous song. I was always enamored of that style of music.

I support many organizations that I feel are doing the right thing, like Alonzo Mourning's foundation, Alicia Keys' foundation, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, and other well-established foundations. I kick out a lot of time and money wherever I can.

If you can draw something from my life that helps, more power to you.

I've loved car racing all my life. I watch NASCAR regularly, and drag racing because we have Raceway Park in New Jersey. I think I got it from my father.

Don't you want to know what's real and what's not? I remember when I was a kid, you know, this whole Cold War thing. They had us scared of the Russians. So, it's almost like, what's real and what's not?

I'm proud of everything I do, but I think I'm the most happy about becoming a rapper. It was my entrance into everything. That helped me get into acting.

To me, doing a gay pride show is one of the most fun things. My first show that paid more than $10,000 was in a gay club on New Year's Eve in San Francisco.

There's the part of my life that the public and I share together. And there's the part that's mine to keep for myself. And that's mine. For me.

I don't eat bad food. I probably just eat too much food, and I think a lot of people do.

I know a lot of people who really aren't beautiful because their attitudes are very nasty... Whether I make the 50 most beautiful list or not, I'm always going to feel like I'm number one most beautiful to myself... I get that from my mom, and my daddy and my friends who raised me.

I'd say, if you want to be an artist, start with your art; start with making great music and it will, hopefully, eventually cut through all of the nonsense that is out there.

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

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

I have a drum set in my dressing room. I play drums to relax and have some fun.