Menu

Topics

Connect

Comments

Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.

Queen Latifah calls for change: ‘Racism is still alive and kicking’

Stars of hip-hop gathered in New York for a salute to the queens of rap. Contemporary rappers and others in the music industry gathered Monday to honour Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, Lil Kim and Salt N Pepa at the VH1 Hip Hop Honors event. – Jul 12, 2016

After a six-year hiatus, VH1’s Hip Hop Honors: All Hail the Queens ceremony returned on Monday night, paying tribute to some of rap’s female artists: Queen Latifah, Missy Elliott, Lil Kim and Salt-N-Pepa.

Story continues below advertisement

The show opened with words from Black Lives Matter founders Alicia Garza and Darnell Moore.

“This movement is grounded in black peoples’ dignity, justice and freedom. It’s about love, not violence,” announced Garza.

Queen Latifah, who was honoured for her rap accomplishments in a video tribute from First Lady Michelle Obama, spoke out about the ongoing racial tensions in the United States, spurred by the separate shooting deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile by police officers.

READ MORE: Beyoncé writes open letter calling for action: “Stop killing us”

“We all know that the world and our world is really tense right now,” Latifah said while being honoured. “It’s a lot of tension. It’s a lot of angst. It’s a lot of hurt. A lot of pain. I’m hoping that we can somehow manage to channel all of these emotions that we have in a positive way and really do something to change our world.”

Story continues below advertisement
The Oscar-nominated singer-actress continued, “I don’t care how much money or things I have, or Puff has, or Missy [Elliot] has, the ladies have, if I go outside and try to hail a cab and he passes me for the white woman standing right there — that racism is still alive and kicking. And we have to change that. And I’m not blaming the white lady, she needed a cab too. I’m just saying we gotta change this attitude.”

The ceremony, hosted by Eve, celebrated women who have broken all kinds of barriers in the hip-hop genre, with visual tributes and artists like Lil Mama and Teyana Taylor performing for the four honourees.

“All of these queens in this building, we built hip-hop,” Latifah stated. “We built hip-hop. And there’s no way that I can allow us to be erased from the history or the future of hip-hop.”

READ MORE: Everyone has “some black” in them: Stevie Wonder in Black Lives Matter message

Curator Recommendations
Advertisement

You are viewing an Accelerated Mobile Webpage.

View Original Article