What Happened to Salt-N-Pepa (The First Ladies of Rap)

 

In 2023, Missy Elliott was inducted in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. It was an historic moment as she became the first female rapper to receive this honor. But it had me wonder, nothing against Missy, why wasn’t Salt-N-Pepa were the first. They where the first female rap group to achieve mainstream success and definitely were a pioneering figure in female rap in general (not just female rap). Today let’s go through their journey with three of the most influential figures in female rap. So, without further ado…


What Happened to Salt-N-Pepa? (The First Ladies of Rap)

Our story begins in Queensborough Community College. That’s where two nursing students name Cheryl James and Sandra Denton. They where also part-time telephone operators for Sears and had some future famous co-workers with Martin Lawrence & Kid n Play. Cheryl’s boyfriend at the time, DJ Hurby “Love Bug” Azor also worked for Sears but was taking music classes and wanted to work on a rap song. He recruited his girlfriend and Sandra to record the song. They went to Love Bug’s attic to record a song and the song was called “Show Stopper”. Remember, rap in the 80s were battle influenced, and Show Stopper was used as a response track to The Show by Slick Rick & Doug E Fresh. Turns out Luv Bug had connections with DJ Marley Marl, and he had it played on his radio station. The song became a heavy request locally despite not having any physical copies since the song was only meant for a school project. The duo would call themselves Supernature.

Luv Bug would become the duo’s manager. He wanted the group to become the female Run-DMC so they need a DJ. They hired Latoya Hanson for the role of DJ. The name Supernature didn’t last long as people keep referring them to Salt and Pepper because in the song they had a line saying they We go together like salt and pepper, and that’s how they got the name Salt-N-Pepa, with Cheryl going by Salt and Sandra going as Pepa. Next was for them to shop for a record deal, but most record company’s turned them down as rap was a “man’s art”. But an indie rap label named Next Plateau took a chance and sign them to their roster. By this point, the girls quit Sears and college to focus on rap full time.

They recorded a song called Tramp but the song needed a B-Side. Luv Bug came up with the song Push It and fun fact: this song was recorded in a bathroom. Tramp wasn’t going anywhere, that was until a DJ in San Francisco decided to play the B-Side and Push It took off. Push It would become the girls first Hot 100 charting song peaking at #19, and going in the top 10 in various countries. Push It was nominated for a new category called Best Rap Performance, however they boycotted the ceremonies after it was announced that the category wasn’t going to be televised. Push It would later be placed on the Rolling Stone Top 500 songs of all time. In December 1986, Salt N Pepa released their debut album Hot, Cool & Vicious and that album would go platinum and with this they became the first female hip hop act to receive a certification. But Latoya Hanson wouldn’t last as DJ. She would miss shows, rehearsals and did not get along with Salt so she left. Hanson would be replaced by teenage DJ Deidra Roper later known as Spinderella. Before they reached out to Spin, Wendy Williams audition as a potential replacement for Hanson.

In 1988, Salt-N-Pepa released their second album A Salt with a Deadly Pepa going Gold. The album only had two singles Get Up Everybody & Twist and Shout but it only saw success in the UK while not charting in the US. So they went back in the lab to record their third album. This time, Luv Bug wasn’t able to assist them on every song as he had his hands tied with other artists. So, the girls decide to take control and write their own lyrics and produced some of the songs on the album. During this time, Pepa became a mother as she gave birth to a son in 1990. Salt too became a mother as she gave birth to a daughter the next year. That same year Salt-N-Pepa released their third album Blacks’ Magic. Lead off single was Expressions and that song hit #1 on the Rap charts, the next song Do You Want Me and that song reached #7 on the Rap Charts. But the album would be known for the song “Let’s Talk About Sex”. The song was use to educate people about sex and STDs and how the mainstream media tried the censor the topic since no one wanted talked about it (they were almost arrested one time if they performed the song). The song reached #13 on the Hot 100 and was nominated for Best Rap Performance by Duo or Group at the 1992. Blacks Magic went Platinum

Moving along in 1993, the released their fourth album Very Necessary. The leadoff singe for that album was Shoop and that song reached #1 on the Rap Charts and #4 on the Hot 100. The next single was Whatta Man with En Vogue and that also reached #1 on the Rap Charts and #3 on the Rap Charts. This song was nominated for Best R&B Performance by Duo or Group. None of Your Business was next and that song wasn’t as success on the charts going #10 and #32 on the Rap and Hot 100 respectively, but this song gave them their first Grammy win for Best Rap Performance by Duo or Group and they became the first female rappers to win at the Grammys alongside Queen Latifah who won another category that night. Very Necessary went 5x Platinum, become the first female rappers to have an album go multiplatinum. This would be the time Pepa started to date rapper Treach from Naughty by Nature.

Before they worked on their fifth album, the girls wanted to break from Luv Bug’s management. They accused him of unfair royalty payments. Not to mention, Salt was no longer romantically involved with him. They also signed a new contract with Red Ant Records for that next album. That album would be called Brand New, released in 1997. The album had two minor hits R U Ready & Giddy Up with the latter only reaching #50 on the Hot 100. Some of the reasons why the songs failed to reach the same success of the latter was that their new label Red Ant went bankrupt after the album hit the shelves halting promo. Despite all of this, the album still went Gold. Pepa would marry Treach and they would have a daughter. However, their relationship was tumultuous as Treach was allegedly abusive towards Pepa. They would divorce in 2001. After Brand New cracks in Salt-N-Pepa friendship was starting to show. Even during the recording of that album, Salt-N-Pepa started to see creative differences as Pepa still wanted to do bold, sexually charged lyrics that the group was known for. But Salt disagreed and would often show up to recording sessions late, if not at all. Pepa was also still a party girl while Salt had calmed her partying ways. Salt was also diagnosed with Bulimia and was battling depression. In 2002, she had all that she could take from the band and decided to leave the group and would later find God and devote her time in her Christian Faith.

In 2005, VH1 was holding their second ever Hip-Hop Honors and wanted Salt-N-Pepa to perform as they where being honored that night. They agreed and Salt-N-Pepa reunited. In 2007, Salt-N-Pepa had their own reality show simply called the Salt-N-Pepa Show. The show ran for two seasons. After this, the group would become a touring act. Then in 2019, Spinderella announced that she was terminated from Salt-N-Pepa. She would later sue Salt-N-Pepa for unpaid royalties, other failed compensations, trademark infringement, fraud and breach of contract. The case was settled out of court. Then in 2021, Lifetime produced the Salt-N-Pepa biopic movie. The movie was met with mixed reviews and most of the negative reviews stated that the movie mostly excluded Spinderella, who had major contributions to the group. Anyway, in 2022 Salt-N-Pepa got their star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The next year, Spin reunited with Salt-N-Pepa at the Essence Festival. Today Spinderella still works as a touring DJ. As for Salt-N-Pepa, there where the leading ladies of hip-hop paving the way for various women in hip-hop.

SOURCES

https://www.biography.com/musicians/salt-n-pepa-story-origins

https://www.biography.com/musicians/cheryl-salt-james

https://www.biography.com/musicians/sandra-pepa-denton

https://www.mylifetime.com/movies/salt-n-pepa/pages/salt-n-pepa-movie-6-things-didnt-know

https://www.startribune.com/rapper-salt-finds-her-way/16384936

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