At some point towards the end of the 90s, I set the video for a late-night Channel 4 documentary about women in rock (I know, but Kenickie were on it and I was as into their interviews as I was their music, what with all the band members being considerably more clever and funny than say Placebo or 60ft Dolls). As dated as a women-in-rock doc sounds – though magazines do occasionally still wheel out that concept when a few people with breasts end up making music at the same time, if you can imagine such a thing – I remember it being a fairly decent trawl through the recent pop archives that asked some smart questions. But what really stood out was this video for Queen Latifah's 1993 single U.N.I.T.Y. Specifically, the bit at 1.23 where she does a whopping great air punch. I made a mental note to try that move on the mean streets of north Lincolnshire.
Queen Latifah is better known for her acting than her music these days, but U.N.I.T.Y. made me realise what a fantastic rapper she was. Even though it's mostly serious, being about gangs and domestic violence and the correct use of the word "bitch" and all, it's got a few wry lines in there: "Since he was with his boys he tried to break fly, huh/I punched him dead in his eye, said 'Who you callin' a bitch?'". At the time I was really into NWA and listening to this made it feel like some sort of cosmic balance was being restored.
