U.N.I.T.Y.
Queen Latifah's 'U.N.I.T.Y.' aimed at street harassment, domestic violence and the slurs hip-hop itself used against women, reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 and won a Grammy.
By Song Reviews · October 1, 2026
Greatest of All Time!Queen Latifah's 'U.N.I.T.Y.' aimed at street harassment, domestic violence and the slurs hip-hop itself used against women, reached No. 23 on the Hot 100 and won a Grammy.
“U.N.I.T.Y.” was released on November 9, 1993, by Motown from Queen Latifah’s third album, Black Reign. She wrote it with Kier Gist and it was produced by KayGee, over a sample of The Crusaders’ “Message from the Inner City” with a chorus that interpolates Desmond Dekker’s “Unity.” That is a jazz-funk loop with a reggae reference in the chorus, a combination that sets the tone: this is a record that wants to be sung along to, not just argued with.
What the song argues about is specific. Per Wikipedia’s summary, it confronts the disrespect of women in society, including street harassment, domestic violence and slurs against women in hip-hop culture – the last one aimed directly at the genre the song lives in. It is unusual for a rap single to address its own audience’s treatment of women this directly, and more unusual still for one to reach a mainstream audience while doing so.
It reached No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Hot Rap Songs chart, which made it Latifah’s highest-charting song at that point, and it won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. In 2022 Pitchfork placed it at No. 95 on its list of the 250 best songs of the 1990s.
Greatest of All Time. A rap record that argued with its own genre and won a Grammy for it.
Hero image: “Black Reign” album cover art, Motown Records. Used under fair use for editorial commentary.