“U.N.I.T.Y.” by Queen Latifah
Target: Boss
“What’s going on in your mind is what I ask ya?/But like Yo-Yo–you don’t hear me though/You wear a rag around your head and you call yourself a ‘Gangsta b—h’ now that you saw Apache’s video…”
“But where did all of this come from? A minute ago, you was a nerd and nobody ever heard of ya/Now you a wannabe hard/You barely know your ABC’s—please/There’s plenty of people out there with triggers ready to pull it/Why you tryna jump in front of the bullet?”
This feminist anthem was a big hit in the mid-1990s, with fans and critics praising Queen Latifah for demanding respect for women at the height of “b—h/ho” gangsta-ism. What a lot of people didn’t pay attention to, though, was the final verse. In the midst of all that feminism, Latifah fired a shot squarely at pseudo-gangsta rap newcomer Boss, who had drawn criticism for her “gangsta b—h” rhymes and image after it was discovered she was the product of a suburban private school.
