GREENSBORO, N.C. — Queen Latifah brought HBCU pride, humor and hard-earned wisdom to North Carolina A&T on Saturday, telling the Class of 2026 to believe in themselves before the world catches up.
Standing before graduates in Greensboro, the entertainer, entrepreneur and hip-hop icon said she had only a few minutes to offer life advice. She used that time to center one major theme: faith that looks unreasonable to everybody else.
“You have to have delusional amounts of faith to achieve what she achieved,” Queen Latifah said, recalling a conversation about success. “So you have to be delusional beyond your wildest dreams, beyond faithful, beyond believing.”
Queen Latifah brings HBCU crowd a message of belief
Queen Latifah tied that message to her own story.
“When was I delusional with faith? Well, it started off with me being 16 and calling myself Queen Latifah,” she said. “And then at 18, to call my album All Hail the Queen. I mean, like from jump.”
She reminded North Carolina A&T graduates that her path did not begin with money, fame or certainty.
“This little girl from East Orange, New Jersey,” she said, “had to take two buses and two trains just to get into the city, sneaking my way into music clubs.”
She said she had “$1.50” to eat each day, often buying “two 50-cent hot dogs and a drink.” But even then, she carried herself like the person she planned to become.
“With a little bit of money I had, I was presenting myself the way I saw myself,” she said, “with all the power, all the poise, all the presence and all the purpose of a young Black queen making hip-hop music.”
Then came the line that anchored the speech.
“I had to believe in myself more than anyone else did in order to pull that off,” Queen Latifah said. “And so you have to believe in yourself more than anyone else does.”
North Carolina A&T graduates told to protect their purpose
Queen Latifah also told graduates to be careful about who they bring into their future.
“Know that you have to bring people along who believe with you,” she said.
She recalled being told by an agent that she would “never be a movie star.” That doubt did not stop her.
“If you believe, we can step forward together,” she said. “But if not, I got to leave you behind.”
Queen Latifah said courage also means knowing when to say no. She remembered turning down a “very lucrative” TV project because it did not feel right. That decision eventually cleared the way for Chicago, which earned her an Academy Award nomination.
“You can’t be [yourself] by saying yes to everybody, yes to everything,” she said.
Her closing message to North Carolina A&T was both personal and powerful.
“Be enough to call yourself something that the world hasn’t called you yet,” Queen Latifah said. “Be brave enough to walk down that road that no one else can see.”
And, of course, she left the HBCU graduates with a royal charge.
“Find a way to find your crown,” she said, “and put it on and rock that thing.”