Queen Latifah “Persona”
Standouts - “Cue the Rain,” “'My Couch,” “With You”

On her new CD, “Persona,” Latifah goes back to the roots that made her so unique in the first place. The album is an enjoyable mix of singing and rapping, produced by hip-hop hitmakers Cool and Dre and featuring cameos from the likes of Missy Elliot, Mary J. Blige, Busta Rhymes and Marcia Ambrosius. The style ranges from straight-up hip-hop to mid-tempo R&B to breathless techno, with a mercifully light sprinkle of the obligatory Autotune effects. Singles like “Cue the Rain,” '”My Couch” and “With You” are body-moving tales of the type of hothouse love that blooms on the dance floor, while “People” with Mary J. Blige and “The World” tackle more weighty topics.