When it came time to be a professional rapper, I wouldn't sign anything without reading it. There was no way I was going to have people make decisions for me or wake up one day and find that I was broke because I never bothered to read a contract.

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.

You can't ask someone who is not making that kind of money to go to the record store and buy an album when someone down the street has the same record with same sound quality for $5.

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.

I lost relatives to AIDS, a couple of my closest cousins. I lost friends to AIDS, high-school friends who never even made it to their 21st birthdays in the '80s. When it's that close to you, you can't really deny it, and you can't run from it.

I wish every woman would love herself and embrace what she was given naturally.

Life's not about sitting at home in front of the TV waiting for your life to begin. Get out there and take some chances.