All Hail the Queen

In the chorus to her show-stopping number from the blockbuster film Chicago, Queen Latifah’s jail warden character, Mama, belts out, “When you’re good to Mama / Mama’s good to you.”

“Mama” was certainly good to Harvard last Saturday, seducing the sold-out crowd at Cultural Rhythms with her audacious antics and considerable stage presence. So it was only appropriate that Harvard repaid her in the best way it knows how: with a sweatshirt.

After graciously accepting the prized item, Queen Latifah quickly peeked at the tag. Giggling, she turned to the crowd. “Oooh, an extra-large. My size!”

Queen Latifah’s larger-than-life charisma made for an unusually good performance hosting this year’s annual cultural showcase. She expertly filled the role that has in recent years been occupied by the likes of Matt Damon, Jackie Chan and Denzel Washington.

Queen Latifah was invited to appear in the Sanders Theater event after she was nominated for Artist of the Year by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations.

She responded immediately, agreeing to attend the festival. Later, she explained why she felt the festival was such an important event to support.

“With where our world is going, it’s what we need to be doing,” she says. “There’s so much to be honored in each culture.”

Queen Latifah adds that she is startled by what she sees as a general lack of openness between cultures.

“I’ve noticed that instead of embracing another culture, we kind of shy away,” she says.

She says her own ethnically diverse background, which she claims includes “Irish blood from five generations ago,” has allowed her to find acceptance in any society, especially when it comes to culinary traditions.

“If I go to Japan, I can eat sushi,” she says. “If I go to India, I can eat Indian food. If I go to Africa, I’m right at home!”

After the performance, Queen Latifah said she was impressed by the diversity of performances at Cultural Rhythms.

“I liked them all so much,” she said. “Everybody had uniquely strong things to offer.”

On stage, Latifah proved to be an equal-opportunity entertainer. She offered her own imitations of the various dances following each group’s performance, even singing along with the Kuumba Singers and “shimmying” to the beats of the Caribbean Club Dance Troupe.

“I wanted to participate in all of them!” she said. “But I don’t know if I’d be able to participate in any of them,” she said, making a characteristic reference to her own physique and laughing heartily.

Latifah also offered some thoughtful words of advice for the Harvard students in attendance.

“I hope you all go out there and hustle,” she said to the audience, which whooped and cheered in response.

In addition to the sweatshirt, Latifah also received a plaque to commemorate her artistic and humanitarian achievements over the past year. These include her Academy Award-nominated performance in Chicago, as well as her continuing participation in the Lancelot H. Owens Scholarship Foundation, a program she started to provide inner-city students with access to college education.

As for her chances of acquiring a nice gold statuette to watch over her gold plaque, Queen Latifah says she isn’t too nervous. She’s happy with the recognition she’s already received for her work in Chicago, though she says that if she wins an Oscar, “that’s really gonna be the icing on the cake.”

This year, Queen Latifah holds the distinction of being the sole nominated actor of color, which comes as a disappointment of sorts following a banner year for African-Americans at the Academy Awards. In 2002, for the first time in history, two black actors took home the top acting awards. Denzel Washington won the Best Actor award for Training Day, while Halle Berry took the Best Actress prize for her work in Monster’s Ball.

But Queen Latifah preemptively eschews any race-related questions about the Oscars.

“People ask me about how I’m the only black nominee this year,” she says. “But what about the Asian-Americans and the Latinos and the other people making movies?”

However, she did comment on the Academy Awards during Cultural Rhythms. At one point in the show, after sizing up the exuberant crowd, she remarked, “This is gonna be more fun than the Oscars!”

As if there was any doubt about it.

—Staff writer Ben B. Chung can be reached at bchung@fas.harvard.edu.