I have great family and friends that do not treat me like Queen Latifah. We've all grown with this thing, they have sacrificed part of there anonymity; they've had to deal with rumors and things in the paper and they've had to take this ride along with me and they've taken it and we've had a good time.

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 feel like every woman is a queen, and we should be treated as such, and we should, you know, sort of request that sort of treatment from others.

I've never been the straight rapper that is going to stand in a cipher and battle all day. I started off battle rapping, but to me, making songs became more important than freestyles... I've met many rappers who can freestyle but can't make a record.

What would your life be like if you found out you had 3 weeks left? And you know that you had not begun to live? And you had all these dreams and all these possibilities. And all these things you wanted to do and things you wanted to say and now time's up?

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.

My house borders horse farms, and I can look out my window and see the horses and the new colts. It's really peaceful.