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Nearly 20 years after her debut album, All Hail The Queen, Dana Elaine Owens (a.k.a. Queen Latifah), is a one-woman industry. Her new film, The Secret Life Of Bees, opens Friday and her own Cover Girl makeup line for women of color has made her a cosmetics queen as well.

But most importantly, Latifah is upholding a tradition started with The Queen of Soul herself, Aretha Franklin. She’s the latest in a long line of soul sistas who are unabashedly strong, black, and proud. They are musical women — rappers, neo-soul singers, and old-school R&B vocalists — who define beauty and style on their own purely individual terms. In a world of peroxide, botox, and prefabrication, these women are a breath of fresh musical air.

And take note, Janet, Beyonce, and all of you white-washed divas: It's not about the handlers, the costume changes, the super glossy lips, or the impossible bodies supported by an army of trainers. It's about KEEPING IT REAL!

Here’s the great soul sisterhood. Women, take note. Men, step back.

 
ARETHA FRANKLIN
A preacher’s daughter, Lady Soul has been the archetypal soul sista for more than 40 years. At the peak of her career in 1972, she publicly embraced her African heritage on Amazing Grace, a gospel album recorded live in the New Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles. The cover displays Aretha decked out in African gown and headdress, a look that Erykah Badu famously copped upon her arrival.
 

INDIA.ARIE
India originally had plans to become a jewelry maker but changed career plans upon discovering music and author Toni Morrison. Her 2001 debut, Acoustic Soul, sold over 2 million copies and her 2006 single “I Am Not My Hair” is an anthem for any woman who’s ever been hung up over her ’do.

 

 
JILL SCOTT
The title of her last album says it all: The Real Thing. Scott’s a Philly soul sister with equal cred in the rap world of The Roots or in the jazz corners of Al Jarreau. Raised by her mother and grandmother, she’s full of heart and soul. The woman exudes pure independence and strength.
 
 

ERYKAH BADU
The preeminent African Queen, Badu was born Erica Abi Wright in South Dallas but quickly absorbed her African roots, changing her name (“Kah” and “Badu” mean “can do no wrong” and “truth and light,” respectively, in Arabic) and attending the historically black Grambling State University. Her second big hit, “Tyrone,” is too real for anyone who’s experienced the ire of a sista up close. Don’t make a sista angry, folks.
 

NINA SIMONE
The High Priestess of Soul held generations of pain, sadness, rage, and anger in her small, dark frame. Simone was a classically trained pianist who made her recital debut at age 10. She hung with such literary legends as Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry, and co-wrote the ultimate civil rights tune, “To Be Young, Gifted And Black.” Plus, she had hairdos to rival Ms. Badu.
 
 

ROBERTA FLACK
This brilliant pianist received a full musical scholarship to the famed black Howard University. Along with the late, great Donny Hathaway, Roberta redefined the look and sound of duet acts with songs like “The Closer I Get To You” and “Where Is The Love.”
 

MISSY ELLIOTT

Her first group was called Sista, so you know she’s part of the sisterhood. Her work (much of it with longtime friend Timbaland) has given her the rare distinction of being the only female rapper to have six platinum albums, which makes her one of the females who can hang with full artistic cred in the predominately male rap world. She’s also made some of the best videos in years.
 

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