Salt-N-Pepa

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Salt-n-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa

At a time when hip-hop music was shunned by mainstream radio, Salt-n-Pepa broke through in 1986 with their multi-platinum crossover debut, Hot, Cool and Vicious. Along with Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys, Salt-n-Pepa were among the first hip-hop groups to be heard on a wide scale outside American urban centers during the mid-1980s. The Queens, New York-based Salt-n-Pepa also were the first all-female hip-hop group to gain commercial success in a genre dominated by men, opening doors for such female hip-hop artists like MC Lyte, Yo-Yo, Foxy Brown, Lil' Kim, Lauryn Hill, Lady of Rage, Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah, Bahamadia, Heather B, and others. Further, in a genre where the life of a hip-hop career is about one year, Salt-n-Pepa persevered, continued to have hits, and were still active well into the late 1990s.

Formed in 1985 under the name Super Nature, Cheryl "Salt" James, Sandy "Pepa" Denton, and their Sears department store coworker turned producer Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor released a minor hit called "The Show Stoppa," an answer record to the Doug E. Fresh hit, "The Show." Super Nature's song reached number 46 on the Billboard R&B singles chart, making enough of a name for the group to perform in local New York clubs. The women changed the group's name to Salt-n-Pepa and added a DJ named Spinderella (PamelaGreene, who was later replaced by Deidre "Dee Dee" Roper). Salt-n-Pepa signed to the independent hip-hop label Next Plateau and released Hot, Cool and Vicious in 1986. The album sold successfully with a number of singles doing well on the R&B charts, but it was not until a remix of "Push It" was released in 1988 that Salt-n-Pepa were launched into the mainstream of pop music.

In 1988, they followed up their success with a relatively lackluster album, A Salt with a Deadly Pepa, which did well enough with the singles "Twist and Shout" and the EU collaboration, "It's Your Thang." But after facing the gendered charges of "selling out" and "going pop," they put out the Afrocentric-tinged Black's Magic, a commercial and artistic success with the number one Rap chart song "Expression" and the Top 20 Billboard Pop hit, "Let's Talk About Sex." For their fourth album, Salt-n-Pepa signed to the major label, London, and distanced themselves from their longtime producer Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor (who the group felt imposed too much control (for instance, he got full songwriting credits on their first album, despite the women's assertions that they also contributed lyrics).

Very Necessary, released in 1993, was a massive hit—the biggest of their career. It spawned the Top Ten Pop hits "Shoop" and "Whatta Man," and a lesser hit, "None of Your Business," and won the group a Grammy in 1995 for best Rap performance. Songs like "Shoop" and "None of Your Business" exemplify the assertive female-centered sexuality that they have cultivated since their earliest recordings like 1986's "Tramp." They have been able to successfully walk the line between engaging in a fun-loving sexual expression and avoiding reducing themselves to purely sexual objects, primarily because of their smart, in-your-face lyrics. For instance, Salt-n-Pepa often engaged in dialogue with their sexist male peers in their songs, challenging traditional notions of femininity and sex-role double standards. In 1995, the group recorded the single "Ain't Nuthin' But a She Thing," the theme song of a documentary about women that aired on MTV in November of 1995.

Having completely split with Azor and taken time off from their careers to raise their children, Salt-n-Pepa entered a new hip-hop era in which many more female hip-hop artists were gaining popularity. For a variety of reasons, including changing audience tastes and poor record company marketing, their 1997 album sold poorly.