Halle Berry! Nia Long! 15 Times Black Actresses, Singers Are Mentioned in Popular Rap Songs

Starting off strong with perhaps the most referenced Black actress in all of Hip-Hop, Berry had a song named after her in 2009. Hurricane Chris dropped “Halle Berry (She Fine)” giving all the praise to the actress.

Sixteen years after Hurricane Chris’ hit song, Jordan Adetunji rapped how his special lady is “bad just like Kehlani.” The 26-year-old artist is new to the music industry, but with “KEHLANI,” which is named after the California-born singer, going viral on TikTok, Adetunji saw major success.

Not all rap songs that reference famous women in the industry are positive. Another powerful woman in music, Rock and Roll legend Tina Turner, has had her fair share of musical mentions over the decades. Most of them, unfortunately bring up Turner’s abusive relationship to Ike Turner. Even on “Machine Gun Funk,” Notorious B.I.G. rapped “Beatin’ motherf*****s like Ike beat Tina. What’s love got to do?”

The Canadian rapper has plenty of songs referencing famous women, but his 2013 song “Girls Love Beyoncé” speaks nothing but the truth!

Actress Nia Long is another woman who has been well-referenced in Hip-Hop over the years. J. Cole rapped about her in 2014 saying “My only regret was too young for Nia Long.” Long publicly responded to the song, joking that Cole is “not too young.”

In 2015, Tory Lanez dedicated an entire song to Karrueche Tran, an actress and Chris Brown’s ex-girlfriend. Brown was seemingly cool with it as he and Lanez are still friends to this day. Lanez is currently behind bars for shooting Megan Thee Stallion in 2020.

2016 was arguably the year of Migos. With hits like “T-Shirt” and “Bad and Bouje,” not to mention their “Culture” album, Migos surely went down in 2016 history. On another song off the album, “Kelly Price,” Quavo gave a quick shoutout the the singing legend saying “Imma make her sing like Kelly Price yeah, yeah.”

Drake spilled some tea during his verse on 21 Savage’s track “Mr. Right Now.” On the song, he said “Yeah, said she wanna f**k to some SZA, wait / ‘Cause I used to date SZA back in ‘08.” SZA soon came out clarifying the two briefly dated in 2008. “I think he jus innocently rhymed 08 w wait,” she said on X.

During a Genius interview, Tierra Whack said “Everybody be like ‘I’m doing real good.’” She added, “But if you’re doing Meagan Good, you’re really doing good, good, good.”

“Set It Off” is arguably one of the best films from 1996. With a star studded cast and a tear jerking plot, it shouldn’t be shocking that the movie is still referenced often in Hip-Hop. On Dej Loaf’s “Try Me,” she rapped “V.I.P in the club, while your section boring / Got a b***h that Set it Off like Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah.”

Chris Brown joined forces with Kevin McCall and Tyga for the 2010 hit song, “Dueces.” McCall tackled the third verse of the song referencing Robin Thicke’s ex-wife. “I got a new chick, and she ain’t you / She Paula Patton thick, she give me déjà vu,” he said.

A$AP Rocky is the perfect example of manifesting exactly what you want for your future. In 2013, he dropped “Fashion Killa” where he raps about styling and profiling with a special lady. But specifically, he name dropped Rihanna saying, “Her attitude Rihanna, she get it from her mama.” In 2025, these lyrics mean so much more as he and RiRi have a beautiful family with two sons, RZA and Riot Rose. The song continued saying “But she save it so our babies will be flyer than their parents.” It looks like Rocky got his wish!

In the sexually vulgar 2012 song, California’s YG rapped “You be on and off I’m tryna be all in, Amber Rose is the only bitch look good bald head.” We think that’s supposed to be a compliment.

The Game gave actress Gabrielle Union a shoutout saying a woman he knows is “Fly as Gabrielle Union in the back of my six, fo’ Impala.” Union is one of many celebrities the rapper mentions on the track, including Halle Berry, Lil Kim and Kelis.

On track 12 of Jay-Z’s “The Black Album,” he raps about taking off in a Maybach Benz that’s “flyer than Sanaa Lathan.” After mentioning the actress, Jay goes on to say “Pumping ‘Brown Sugar’ by D’Angelo In Los Angeles, like an evangelist.” Lathan was the leading lady in the 2002 film starring Taye Diggs, “Brown Sugar.”