All Hail the Queen

The cover of All Hail the Queen is a portrait of Queen Latifah in a power stance, dressed in black with a black headscarf and gold stripes on her sleeves. The palette is mostly black with flashes of gold, a regal colour scheme that matches the title. The album was released by Tommy Boy Records when Latifah was nineteen, after her first singles had built a following in New York.

The styling was a statement. In a 1989 interview on Yo! MTV Raps, Latifah explained that she preferred African clothing and accessories because buying them supported African businesses and made her feel closer to her ancestors. "I just feel inner power," she said. The headwrap and gold trim belong to that Afrocentric moment in late-1980s hip-hop, when artists around the Native Tongues collective were putting African dress and history at the centre of their image. Her name already claimed royalty, and in her first video she wore a crown that became a trademark. On the cover she needs no crown: posture and colour do the work.

At a time when women in rap were often styled as sidekicks or sex symbols, the image presented a young woman as a sovereign figure on her own terms. It fits the album's best-known song, "Ladies First", recorded with Monie Love. The album was released on 28 November 1989.