Salt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa (sometimes stylized as Salt 'N' Pepa) is an American hip hop group formed in New York City in 1985, that comprised Salt (Cheryl James), Pepa (Sandra Denton), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper). Their debut album, Hot, Cool & Vicious (1986), sold more than 1 million copies in the US, making them the first female rap act to achieve gold and platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album included the single, "Push It", which was released in 1987 as the B-side to their single "Tramp", and peaked within the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Salt-N-Pepa's second album A Salt with a Deadly Pepa (1988), was certified gold by the RIAA. The Trio's third album, Blacks' Magic (1990), featured the singles "Expression" and "Let's Talk About Sex". In 1993, they released the album, Very Necessary, which sold more than 7 million copies worldwide (5 million of those in the U.S.), and was the highest-selling rap album by a female act (solo or group) in history at the time. The album included the hit singles "Shoop" and "Whatta Man" with En Vogue. They won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for their song "None of Your Business", making them one of the first female rap acts to win a Grammy Award, along with Queen Latifah, who won later during the same ceremony. In 2021, they won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Salt-N-Pepa were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2025 for Musical Influence.

Salt-N-Pepa have sold more than 15 million records worldwide, making them one of the best selling rap acts of all time. Their success in rap and hip hop culture has earned them the honorific title "The First Ladies of Rap".

Sandra Denton worked as a telephone solicitor at a Sears in College Point. She met Cheryl James in the Sears lunchroom. They both were also enrolled as nursing students at Queensborough Community College. The pair became close friends, and also co–workers at Sears, along with future celebrities Kid N' Play and Martin Lawrence. Another co-worker Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor was studying music production at the Center of Media Arts and had his then-girlfriend Cheryl James, and also Sandra Denton, record a song for him as a class project he had to do. This resulted in the song "The Showstopper", an answer record to Doug E. Fresh's hit single "The Show" by the duo, who originally called themselves Super Nature. The song used a melody from the 1984 film Revenge of the Nerds. Azor passed the song along to his friend Marley Marl who hosted a weekend rap show on a New York City radio station. Marl occasionally included the song in his set rotation, and it became so popular that the station received requests to play it during Marl's weekend rap set. The song, however, was not available in stores as it was simply a music school assignment. The independent Pop Art Records stepped in and offered to give the song an official release, and "The Show Stoppa (Is Stupid Fresh)" [sic] became a modest R&B hit, reaching No. 46 on the US Billboard R&B chart.

After finding some success with "The Show Stoppa (Is Stupid Fresh)" [sic], Azor, James, and Denton decided to focus on the group full-time, with Denton and James soon dropping out of nursing school. Azor changed the group's name to Salt-N-Pepa, based on the song's lyrics "Right now I'm gonna show you how it's supposed to be 'Cause we, the salt and pepper MCs", which had resulted in radio stations getting phone calls requesting "The Showstopper" by Salt And Pepper. In September 1985, the group signed to Next Plateau Records, but the label only wanted to release a single at first; James and Denton recorded "I'll Take Your Man", produced by Azor, and the label released it. The song utilized a melody from the hit single "Flash Light" by funk band Parliament. Next Plateau had now requested a full-length album, and Azor felt the group should be a female trio, similar to the male rap trio Run DMC. Before starting work on a full-length album, Azor recruited DJ Latoya Hanson (called Spinderella) into Salt-N-Pepa. The ladies worked on the album and in December 1986 the trio's debut album Hot, Cool & Vicious was released, produced by Azor, Salt's boyfriend at the time and the group's manager. Hanson was in the group for a few months but she and Salt were not on friendly terms and Hanson departed the group after they finished the album, but just before it was distributed to stores. Soon after, in early 1987, 16-year-old high school student Deidra Roper was recruited into the group by Azor and became known as Spinderella, the DJ in the group.

Hot, Cool & Vicious included some moderate rap/R&B radio hits such as "The Showstopper", "My Mic Sound Nice", and "Tramp", but when San Francisco DJ and producer Cameron Paul created a remix to "Push It", the B-side of the "Tramp" single, it gave the group their first major hit. "Push It" (US No. 19, UK No. 2) became a platinum single in the United States, and a hit in several other countries, and was added to subsequent pressings of Hot, Cool & Vicious. It was nominated for a Grammy Award, and the strength of that single catapulted the album to platinum sales in the U.S. with over 1 million copies sold, making Denton, James, and Roper the first female rap act to go platinum. The album ultimately sold 1.4 million copies worldwide.

The group entered the music industry at a time when hip hop was believed to be a fad, and as major record companies were very reluctant to sign hip hop artists, many early hip hop artists recorded for independent labels. Salt-N-Pepa greatly impacted hip hop by being one of the first all-female rap groups. Concerned about sexist lyrics and video clips that objectified women's bodies in hip hop, many feminists disliked rap and hip hop because it negatively portrayed women. However, Salt-N-Pepa changed the look of hip hop. They were scantily clad in sexy clothing and were not afraid to talk about sex and their thoughts about men. Their song "Let's Talk About Sex" was a huge hit.

Salt-N-Pepa's next album, A Salt with a Deadly Pepa, was released on July 26, 1988, and contained the top 10 R&B hit "Shake Your Thang", featuring the go-go band E.U. Also, a top 20 R&B hit and a minor pop hit were seen in "Get Up Everybody (Get Up)" and "Twist and Shout", respectively; with "Twist and Shout" becoming a major hit in the UK (No. 4), and several European countries. The album sold 800,000 copies globally, with 500,000 of those sold in the US, obtaining gold-status in the US.