Queen Latifah's national anthem performance takes social media by storm
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On Sunday (Sept. 10) night, Queen Latifah wowed longtime and new fans with her stunning performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” before the NFL’s New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys game at MetLife Stadium. The award-winning rapper, singer, songwriter, record executive, producer and actress is a native of New Jersey. With seeming effortlessness, she showed viewers from around the world why she’s beloved in multiple areas of the entertainment industry.
Dressed in a two-piece checkered ivory pantsuit, Queen Latifah sang the anthem as a 9/11 tribute alongside a New York Fire Department (FDNY) and New York Police Department (NYPD) choir. By the time the living legend finished the performance, those in attendance cheered the “pitch-perfect” rendition.
Surprising to many of Queen Latifah’s oldest fans, new supporters on social media seemed shocked that she could sing at all. On Twitter, posts by folks who weren’t as familiar with her talent included statements like, “Queen Latifah sings????,” “I had no clue Queen Latifah sings” and “Wait, Queen Latifah sings? Since when? She is always gonna be a rapper to me.”
Her older fans offered up some commentary as well: “People are JUST finding out that Queen Latifah sings? Have they not seen ‘Chicago’ or ‘Hairspray’? Or saw that she released two jazz albums? Or even when she played Bessie Smith in that HBO movie?”
In the 1990s, the icon leveraged her success in hip hop to create an acting career along with several other popular rappers at the time, such as LL Cool J and Will Smith. Meanwhile, her music captured fans from all walks of life. In 1995, she won the Best Rap Solo Performance Grammy Award for “U.N.I.T.Y.” The Library of Congress National Recording Registry chose her All Hail the Queen album for permanent preservation.
Watch her performance of the national anthem here.
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