Queen Latifah was still Dana Elaine Owens when we first saw her dancing on an early Naughty By Nature video. Now an internationally known superstar at 54, the Newark product, raised in East Orange, after being an actress, film producer, talk show host and singer-songwriter, has returned to the roots she once layed down with her pioneering ‘All Hail The Queen’ debut in 1989 when she was still a teenager. It’s called “King King.”

New Jersey will be well represented this year at the most prestigious award show of them all, the 46th Annual Kennedy Center Honors held at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC on December 3, and televised before the end of the year. Dionne Warwick from East Orange and Queen Latifah from Newark join fellow honorees Billy Crystal, Barry Gibb and Renee Fleming.