Popular Hybrid: As promoter and performer, Queen Latifah highlights Sugar Water Festival

Spencer Patterson

Friday, Aug. 5, 2005 | 8:16 a.m.

Queen Latifah has been a hip-hop pioneer, an Oscar-nominated actress and a daytime talk show host.

Now she's added festival organizer to that ambitious resume.

Latifah (real name: Dana Owens) conceived and launched this summer's Sugar Water Festival, a touring music event featuring four female acts.

"My (business) partner and I were inspired by the Lilith Fair tour that we played a few years back, the idea of women owning their tour and putting on a great show for the people with all kinds of community things face painting and diabetes testing and all kinds of good stuff going on around the building," Latifah, 35, said in a phone interview on Monday.

"We thought it would be cool to create something like that geared toward an urban audience, so we just started putting it together."

Latifah brought in neo-soul vocalists Erykah Badu and Jill Scott to anchor the lineup, then added R&B duo Floetry to open the shows. Latifah also performs, slotted between Floetry and Scott, and the women also collaborate for portions of the concert.

The Sugar Water Festival touches down at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Saturday night. Doors open at 7 for the 8 p.m. show. Tickets cost $36.75 to $99.75. About a month into the tour, Latifah said she has been enjoying seeing her peers in action every night.

"We all have our different tones," she said. "Erykah is extremely clever and extremely creative. Jill is real descriptive; she really gives you a visual idea of everything she sings about. And I'm kind of a hybrid. I bring the hip-hop, the jazz, the blues, the soul and the energy."

Latifah's set will blend her best-known rap tunes such as "Ladies First" and "U.N.I.T.Y." with material from last year's "The Dana Owens Album," a disc comprised entirely of jazz and pop standards.

"I've got to mix it up, because there's a lot of people that grew up with me, who've been listening to my music since I started, and now we're grown and they can buy 'The Dana Owens Album,'" Latifah said. "But I've still got to take them back to the hip-hop. They really get up when I take them back to some of those classics."

After showing off her singing voice in films "Living Out Loud" and "Chicago" (the latter role earned her an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress), Latifah says it was just a matter of time before she recorded an album full of of non-rapped vocals.

"'Chicago' really brought it to a lot of people's attention that I could sing, so I was ready," she said. "I also didn't really want to do a singing album until I was in my 30s. I wanted some place to go and grow, and I felt like if I did everything in my 20s, what would I have left to look forward to?"

Featuring well-known songs such as "I Put a Spell on You" and "California Dreamin'," "The Dana Owens Album" earned high praise from many critics. Not surprisingly, Latifah intends to return to the standards for future projects, but is quick to add she has not left the hip-hop realm behind for good.

"I kind of want to do it all," she said. "I'd love to drop a hip-hop joint and then drop another singing joint and just keep the ball rolling. We'll see what happens."

Latifah, who has appeared in around 20 movies, including "Bringing Down the House," "Beauty Shop" and "Taxi," also continues to work steadily in her "second" field. She has roles in a pair of upcoming films, romantic comedy "Last Holiday" and "Stranger Than Fiction," a comedy with a cast that includes Will Ferrell, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson.

Though her daytime talk vehicle, the "Queen Latifah Show," ended a two-year run in 2001, Latifah also retains a steady presence on television, appearing on such events as last year's MTV Movie Awards and this year's Grammy Awards show, the latter of which she hosted.

Despite her other endeavors, however, Latifah says music remains -- and will always be -- her primary focus.

"I love acting, I love business, I love real estate, I love design. But music goes with me everywhere I go," she said. "It's something that has always spoken to my heart in a different way. Whether I'm making a record or not, I'm always humming something or writing something. So music will always remain No. 1 in my book."

With the Sugar Water Festival -- a tour she hopes will grow annually -- Latifah has found a new way to channel her musical energy. And keep tabs on a few women who might have picked up a trick or two from the Queen of the hip-hop genre.

"When I see women taking it to another level, crossing over into acting or business or merchandising, just expanding and creating more opportunities out of what started as just rhyming, I feel proud," Latifah said. "I like to see that happen."