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...