The word "maverick" may be overused and some would argue abused as it relates to this current election, but no one would dispute that the word so accurately describes multitalented entertainer Queen Latifah.

The 38-year-old star, born Dana Owens, has always pushed the envelope and has refused to conform to the expectations of people.

In addition to starring in the anticipated film adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd's bestselling novel, 'The Secret Life of Bees,' the Newark, New Jersey native is also readying her first hip-hop CD in nearly a decade.

The Cool & Dre-produced album, which may also feature production assistance from Missy Elliott and Swizz Beatz, raised a few eyebrows because the Golden Globe winner was planning to title the disc 'The L Word,' a play on the title of the popular Showtime series about lesbians.

"L was gonna stand for love though or La," she explained during our chat at the Four Seasons Hotel in Toronto, Canada. "Since people want to play games, I like to jab back sometimes just for fun. But I'm like, 'Nah, that's too much energy wasted.'"

Latifah's new movie 'The Secret Life of Bees' is no laughing matter though.

The Oscar-nominated actress talked about working on that film, the upcoming election and her newest business ventures during our interview.

You seem comfortable in your own skin and you really appear to be in a place where you enjoy who you are and who you've become. Where does that come from?

I think my parents really put a lot into my brother and me at a young age. They communicated a lot with us. They made us learn how to read well and they made us read the newspaper which made us aware of the world and caused us to ask a lot of questions so they explained a lot of things and they had the patience to explain it and talk about it. My parents let us fall on our faces a lot and be ourselves. My mom wanted me to dress more girly, but she didn't make me feel bad about myself. She was like, 'okay, my daughter's a tomboy, she loves sports so as much as I want her to wear this skirt, I know this skirt is gonna wind up up instead of down and that's not going to look right so I'll just put some pants on her.' My father never treated me like you're a girl so you can't do this and maybe that's because one of his best friends was his sister. He comes from 9 kids with half girls and half boys and all strong. They both come from big families and I think that background made them pass that on and allow us to be ourselves. I failed at a lot of things early in my life and I realized I could recover from it. I was rejected at certain things in my life and I realized that I wasn't gonna die if that boy didn't like me. It was like now that I know I can get over these emotions I'm not afraid to go put myself out there as much. I know that if I go on this talent show I'm gonna be nervous for at least the first 30 seconds and I just learned how to lock onto that one smile and then I start relaxing and hamming it up like everybody else. I think that when you learn how to fail or how to handle failing then you're not afraid to fail. I think a lot of people don't do things because they're afraid to fail or not be good at it or they think they'll look stupid. They don't know how to fall on their face and get back up or fall on their ass and get back up or be told no and keep pushing. I made some bad choices and I realized if I don't choose to make decisions out of love and not self-hatred, then I'm gonna have a miserable life. I got a lot of that done by the time I was 18 which was cool because once my hip-hop career started kicking in, I wasn't blowing my money on drugs and alcohol all the time or stupid stuff like that. I wasn't spending it all and not putting some of it away for taxes. I didn't feel like I had to be like everybody. I had gone through all of that stuff. I was the popular girl and I was the outcast. I went through all of that so it was like I could kind of discover new things for the rest of my life.

Honestly, I think it helped me a lot to be who I am. I look forward to playing all of the complexities because I saw her as being a woman who had a lot of different layers and I loved the fact that she didn't have to just handle business in the way that oftentimes we do. You have to be strong and be willing to be a bitch sometimes. You have to handle things and you have to be tough. I thought she's all those things, but she has a completely different demeanor in the way that she deals with a lot of things. She sort of created a bit of a safe haven in her home site and in her world where she lives. I thought it was kind of nice to be a person who has basically accepted the responsibilities of her sisters. Alicia [Key's] character is a good 10 years younger than her and then May [played by Sophie Okonedo] is pretty much gonna be with her for the rest of her life because she's dealing with a mental handicap. She's just a person who has accepted this role and accepted the fact that when these parents died, May is with me for the rest of my life and that's just how it's gonna be. I've embraced it, I'm dealing with it and I'm gonna take care of this business. I don't think she's the kind of person who has to go out and change the world. She'll just handle her atmosphere and what's right around her, 'now June, go on and change the world and the house will be here when you come back.' August doesn't really need to do that. She'll go vote, she'll register, but in the meantime she has to get this honey in these jars and get food on the table. That's just kind of who she is.

There is a death scene in the movie that's pretty pivotal. Did you tap into the emotion from the death of your brother for that scene?

At this point, I really didn't have to go too deep into my brother's experience. Strangely enough, I was so present in this movie, I didn't even have to work that hard to get there. I just felt there. Maybe because it was enough going on in my personal life that this film was my refuge and this place was my safe haven and where I wanted to be. That was my sister. June and May were my sisters and these girls think they're slick but they're not. I'm gonna let them get a pass until they're really ready to tell the truth about why they're here. Zack was almost like a nephew or a son to me because he was my godson. His mom is my friend and this is my family. It was just something that got into my head and into my spirit. I had music to inspire my emotions. Music can get me to where I need to be really quick. I can play eight bars of a record by The Clark Sisters and maybe because I'm musically inclined, it does the same thing as it would if I sat and thought about how I felt when I lost my brother or someone else close to me or went through some other tragedy that would get me there. I didn't really have to do it. I just kept myself in the presence of what was happening with my sister and the fact that this boy has been snatched up by these people and I don't know what's gonna happen to him. I have to hold it in and protect this information from my sister and be cool about it. She just has to handle a lot so she chooses to try and handle it the best she can. She knows what's coming and I just felt there and I felt like I needed to call my sister. You felt it and you knew it was coming. I didn't have to go too deep into my own personal experiences to be there.

The director Gina Prince-Bythewood set up several scenarios for Jennifer Hudson and Dakota Fanning to get them in the mindset of the time in which the film was set. Did she do any of that to you?

No, I was good. I wanted to leave her alone and let her direct. I didn't want to put any more on her than what she had to do. I'll handle mine, just kidding. She gave us these packages right at the very beginning when Alicia, Sophie, Gina and I first sat down to talk about it. The package had CD's with music from the era so you could play hours of music from then. There was a DVD of 'Four Little Girls' and a book from that time with a lot of pictures taken from the Civil Rights era and pictures of life that kind of put you in the frame of mind that this is what it was like back then. It was all just marching; it was teenagers outside of school or a guy and a girl walking down the street. You could see how they were dressed and what the style was back then. It gave you a different picture than just that of a march. There were some other things in the package, but that was what she gave us all to get us in the mind frame of this time. I had my dad around too. My father works with me on a lot of the films so he was right there if I needed to ask anything about what it was like for him. That was his era so I had an eyewitness. I was good to go.

This movie deals with the facts that Blacks were unable to vote, among other things. How prevalent is this film now with the first African-American man being the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.

I think it's uncanny! When we first started this project there was no one running for President yet. Barack [Obama] was not the choice. It was interesting watching it come together like it did. The debates began while we were shooting the movie so we were glued to our televisions in the trailer and then had to get out on set. It was very exciting. We shot this film in North Carolina over a couple of months and to see North Carolina become the state that really kind of turned this thing for him. It was the state that he won despite what everybody thought. They thought Hillary [ Clinton ] was gonna take it or John Edwards even. He won this state and it wasn't just with a Black vote. A lot of people had to come together and cross racial lines in order for him to win that state. It just spoke to the hope and the desire for change that people have wanted and that he talked about but people counted off as rhetoric for a while. It's a very exciting time and I hope people go out and vote. Voting is fun. I don't think people talk about how much fun it is to go out and vote. It's fun to walk into this high school gym somewhere and these old ladies are like, 'okay, what is your name?' Then you go in there and close that curtain and it's a secret. This room is my power right now. You can press a button and choose who you want. You can go out there and lie to people and tell them that you voted for somebody else if you want to. It was fun. I remember my mom didn't tell me who she was voting for. It was this big mystery. After you walk out of that voting booth, you feel like you're on a high and empowered. It makes you feel like you were involved in something and made a statement. I just hope people can make an appeal to the actual enjoyment of voting, not just that people fought and died for you. Yes they did and you need to know that, but at the same time I hope that all of these Hillary Clinton supporters who are so blown and disacquainted that she's not the candidate who are at the point of even considering not voting, I want them to consider that women couldn't vote either. Women had to fight for the right to vote so make sure you remember that before you decide not to vote at all. They fought for you to have the right not to vote as well, but remember that. Think about that too because I think a lot of women are disappointed but you have to get over it and keep moving forward.

What's coming next from you?

This hip-hop album is next which is coming up; that's the one. That is gonna be challenging. I haven't done one of those in a minute. I'm doing this film called 'Just Right' and that's gonna be the next film project. It's a romantic comedy that we're producing. It's an independent film but it's coming out through Fox Searchlight. I have a perfume coming out; a clothing line and I have more of the Queen Collection to blow up. I haven't named the perfume yet. I'm still creating scents and eliminating a bunch of stuff and having things created. That should be ready around December. It would be something strong and sweet at the same time and maybe kind of funny. I can't wait.

*****

'The Secret Life of Bees' hit theaters this weekend and also stars Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, Sophie Okonedo, Dakota Fanning, Tristan Wilds and Nate Parker.