Released on Motown, the project was also her first recording not released on Tommy Boy Records. Latifah showed great potential as a singer since "Come Into My House," "Princess Of The Posse" and "Wrath of my Madness" from her debut album All Hail The Queen, and she continued to flex her skills as a vocalist on this project.

Critics had negatively critiqued her previous album, 1991's Nature of A Sista due to the heavy singing and R&B slant to much of the music. Latifah had also lost her brother, Lance, in 1992 in a motorcycle accident, giving the project a darker tone than her previous outings.

The album's lead single "U.N.I.T.Y." is a call for solidarity and self-respect in urban communities. The Queen weaves scenarios and tales of verbal and spousal abuse over a horn-heavy Kay Gee (of Naughty By Nature) produced track that fits perfectly in the early 90s soundscape of filtered basslines, horn loops and jazz samples. "U.N.I.T.Y." was an immediate hit on primetime FM radio, and the video was immensely popular on Hip-Hop video shows, greatly increasing the anticipation of the new album. "U.N.I.T.Y." also earned Latifah a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1995.

In December of 1993, the second single from Black Reign, "Just Another Day" was released. The song, produced by Long Island's S.I.D. Reynolds and co-written by The Flavor Unit's Apache, discusses gunplay and violence in the hood. "Just Another Day" peaked at number 54 on the Billboard Hot 100 and remained on the charts for 11 weeks. The song received heavy radio play and the Mark Gerard-directed video was popular on rap video outlets continuing the momentum and sales of the album which was certified gold, selling 503,000 units.

"I Can't Understand" is partly an uptempo response to Roxanne Shanté, who dissed Latifah on her 1992 track "Big Mama." "First up is Latifah, you roll up, and Im a smoke that ass like reefa," Shante' spit.

Latifah also addresses unfaithful lovers and drug addicts on the track. "Rough" featuring KRS, Treach and Heavy D is easily one of the hardest tracks on the project, while "Winki's Theme" is a jazzy/reggae-tinged tribute to her late brother Lance. "Coochie Bang," "No Work," "Bring The Flavor" and "4 The Dj's" complete one of Latifah's last solid rap releases before Hollywood called (Living Single debuted the same year as Black Reign), and she pursued more R&B and Jazz flavored projects.