Queen Latifah's Back, Too!!!!!!!!

People! Listen up. You are not going to believe this. This is some seriously earth-shattering news. Are you sitting down? You better sit down. Comfortable? Okay. Dana Elaine Owens is back.

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What? You don't recognize her? Okay. Maybe you will recognize her stage name: Queen Latifah. Queen Latifah is back. Where did the First Lady of Hip-Hop go, you may ask. She went to My Celebrity Good Graces Purgatory after Mad Money. But she has redeemed herself, because she is back on the big screen with another well-endowed icon of hip-hop, Dolly Parton, in the new movie Joyful Noise (related free stuff here).

Why do we all hail the Queen? Here's why:

She beatboxed before it was polite for ladies to beatbox. Without Queen Latifah, there would be no Salt-n-Pepa, no TLC, no M.I.A., no Nicki Minaj. Back in the day, rapping was a man's sport, like rugby or curling. But like honey badger, Queen Latifah don't care. Queen Latifah dropped beats 'cause that's what Queen Latifah does. (How bad do you want that hat? Come on. You can admit it.... Bahahahaha. Dork! You love that hat! You love that hat so much you want to marry it!)

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Queen Latifah played not one but TWO characters on Fresh Prince. She's so good, no one said, "Wait a minute. I thought that was Dee Dee from season two, episode 8: 'She Ain't Heavy.'" No. They went with it.

Living Single. If you owned a television in the 1990's, the Latifah-sung theme song to this sitcom (starring the Queen) earwormed its way into your subconscious until it took over your dreams and inceptioned ideas like buying brightly hued stirrup pants and learning to play saxophone.

Ice-Age 2. Queen Latifah voices Ellie, the woolly mammoth who thinks she's a possum (or opossum, for you purists who are profligate with your vowels). I can identify because for years I was convinced I was a muskrat.

She tackled Broadway (kind of). So it wasn't actually Broad-way, but Latifah has played roles in two beloved Broadway musicals-turned-movies. She earned an Oscar nod as Matron Mama Morton in Chicago and reportedly beat out Aretha Franklin for the role of Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray. We're just waiting for her Glee cameo.

She's a CoverGirl. The Queen has always been proud of what her mama gave her. She proves that big is beautiful, even in the eyes of some high-powered ad execs at a cosmetics company notorious for perpetuating unrealistic feminine stereotypes. Own it, Latifah.

Will you go see Queen Latifah duel and duet with the Queen of Country Music?

Related post: Dolly's Back!!!!!!