So let’s see what transpired between the time Latifah had her breakthrough hit with 1994’s “U.N.I.T.Y.” and her return with her fourth album, 1998’s Order in the Court: a baggy-clothed teen named Da Brat became the first female rapper to sell a million copies of an album; Lil’ Kim and Foxy Brown followed Da Brat’s commercial trail and became even more successful than she as they advocated pu55y power at the expense of brain power; and Lauryn Hill, as a third of the Fugees, emerged as arguably the most well-rounded artist the hip-hop world had yet seen. Meanwhile, the Queen was busy with non-musical projects like Living Single and Set It Off. Apparently, she was spending more time behind the screen than behind the mic.

So some people can’t be surprised, really, with Order in the Court. Four of five years away from music, particularly hip-hop, is enough to irreversibly impair careers, simply because so much could happen in so seemingly little time.

Does the Queen still have the heat to rattle her subjects? Sometimes she does. When she roars, “I’m telling you straight up/All Sleeping Beauties better wake up!” in the space-age-sounding opening track, “Bananas” -- with Apache of “Gangsta B***h” infamy bellowing the hook -- it could make you think that court is back in session. Hah, speaking of which, that is precisely what the title of the following track is, and she has more mon-bots there. (“I know your crew is off the hook, we off the meat rack!”) In “Parlay”, she trades battle bars with an uncredited Le Fem Markita, who joins fellow femcees Nikki D and Scarlett to light more than a flame from under La’s vast behind in the cool heat of “Brownsville”. However, placing any of these songs next to earlier efforts like “Wrath of My Madness,” “Queen of Royal Badness,” and “Latifah’s Had It Up to Here” would be enough to realize that the Queen’s talons are not as sharp as they once were.

Maybe Hollywood rendered her so, but credit (or blame) the beats partially for it. With producers like Kay Gee (of Naughty by Nature), Clark Kent, and heck, the Fugees on board, Order in the Court boast of this squeaky-clean sheen -- a mixture of synth pop and contemporary soul and R&B sounds, really -- that is emblematic of a Puffy-ruled East Coast hip-hop scene, even though it does have a few detours here and there (e.g., “Parlay” sounds like something that would come out of a Roots session). There’s not one bad beat contribution to the album. However, with the exception of a few numbers, like the aforementioned “Bananas” and the jazzy drum tap of “Paper”, the tracks don’t exactly distinguish themselves, either.

The singing fares better, though; in fact, by this time, Latifah was singing as much as she was rapping. The beautifully sunny idealism of “Black on Black Love” and the sex-predatory “Turn You On” are exemplary of the combination of such talents; “Paper”, which features Pras (!), is an interesting ‘90s interpretation of the Motown classic “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”; and “No/Yes” is charming in the hesitation/indecision theme La vocally rides seductively. However, Latifah does not hit all the right notes, as a number of songs running the gamut of love and perseverance -- “What Ya Gonna Do”, “It’s Alright”, and “I Don’t Know” -- just flow by listlessly.

I won’t go so far as to say that Order in the Court is a complete disaster of an album, but maybe the last song -- “Life” -- sums up the general feel of the album perfectly. It is a touching, half-rapped and half-sung tribute to two recently fallen rappers -- 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. -- yet fails to resonate like other songs of its ilk, like Naughty by Nature’s “Mourn You ‘Til I Join You” and Puffy’s “I’ll Be Missing You.” Yes, maybe the two aforementioned acts had the advantage of intimacy on their side -- Treach was a really good friend of ‘Pac, Puffy (presumably) of Biggie -- but for goodness’ sake, this is the same woman who made “U.N.I.T.Y.”! Is that really an excuse?

Either way, Order in the Court sounds, in its lethargy, like Queen Latifah was ready to let go -- hell, bored, even -- of rapping. Even as she went on to become an Oscar-nominated actress, a pop-culture fixture, and yes, cut two more albums, she has yet to reclaim her throne as the rapping Queen of Royal Badness. And sadly, it is a large void (no pun intended) that female rapdom has yet to recover from, let alone fill.

TRACK LISTING:

1. Bananas (Who You Gonna Call?)
2. Court Is in Session
3. No/Yes (Skit)
4. No/Yes
5. Turn You On
6. Black on Black Love
7. Parlay
8. Paper
9. What Ya Gonna Do
10. It’s Alright
11. Phone Call Skit
12. Brownsville
13. I Don’t Know
14. Life

REVIEWS IN MY QUEEN LATIFAH SERIES:

All Hail the Queen (1989)
Nature of a Sista' (1991)
Black Reign (1993)
Order in the Court (1998)
Persona (2009)

Recommended: No