Rapper. Singer. Actor. Producer. Entrepreneur. Quite a CV for a girl from Newark, New Jersey. But all of these talents blossomed from Latifah's firm roots in her rhyming steez. Coming to the fore in Hip Hop's golden age in the late '80s, Latifah deftly blended hip hop, dancehall, and R&B with her powerful rhymes that took on the male-dominated, and at times misogynistic, hip hop world and 'punched it dead in its eye.' Hip-O. 2005.