Salt-N-Pepa

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Salt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa , one of the first, most important, and longest running of all woman acts in rap. membership: Salt (real name, Cheryl James), rapper (b. Brooklyn, N.Y., March 8, 1963); Pepa (real name, Sandy Denton), rapper (b. Kingston, Jamaica, Nov. 9, 1969); Pamela Green, DJ. Later Spinderella (real name, Deidre Roper), DJ (b. N.Y.C., Aug. 3) replaced Green. In the early 1980s, Cheryl James and Sandy Denton were both nursing students at Queens Borough Comm. Coll., supporting themselves by working in the telephone sales department at Sears, with Kid n Play and Martin Lawrence as workmates. Another fellow worker was Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor (not to be confused with Bronx rap pioneer Herbie “Luv Bug” Starsky), also a college student at N.Y.C.’s Center for Media Arts. As a final project, Azor wanted to produce a rap record, and asked James and Denton if they would be his “talent.” They went into the studio and cut “The Show Stopper,” an answer record to Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick’s hit “The Show.” Azor got an A, but more important the record was released under the name Supernature, where it rose to #46 on the R&B chart in 1985. This launched Azor’s production career and the “Salt n Pepper MCs” (as they called themselves on the record—a reference to James’s slightly lighter complexion) getting signed to a larger rap- oriented independent record company, Next Plateau. Azor remained with them as their manager, producer, alleged songwriter, and James’s boyfriend.

James and Denton entered the studio with Azor and a new deejay, Pamela Green. Their Next Plateau debut, 1986’s Hot, Cool and Vicious, started off as a moderate success, with three mid-level R&B hits: “Chick on the Side,” “My Mike Sounds Nice,” and a reworking of the Otis Redding/Carla Thomas hit “Tramp.” A San Francisco deejay liked the flip side of the latter cut better and created a remix of the frankly sexy “Push It.” It rose to #19 pop, going platinum and taking the album to platinum and #26.

Before they went in to record A Salt with a Deadly Pepa, Green left the group and was replaced by Diedre “DJ Spinderella LaToya” Roper. The record produced a couple of moderate hits, including a reworking of the Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing,” which they recorded as “Shake Your Thing” with the Washington D.C. go-go band EU. That tune went to the R&B Top Ten, the album reached #38 pop and went gold in 1988.

Striking while the iron was still at least lukewarm, they released a remix package, A Blitz of Salt n Pepa Hits, an ironic title as it turned out, because their greatest music and success was yet to come. During the three years between A Salt… and their next release, Black’s Magic, the group became more active in their direction and started to shoulder Azor out of the way, with good results. With each of the trio co-producing, along with the help of Steevee-O, 1990’s Black Magic was a breakthrough, bringing a level of conscious Afro-centricity to the pop image the group had put forward on its first two albums, without losing the sexy fun of its more pop side. The first single, “Expression,” went high in the R&B charts before running up to #26 on the pop charts and going platinum. “Do You Want Me” reached #21 pop and went gold. The anthemic “Let’s Talk about Sex,” aided by an amazing video, went to #13 pop and also sold gold. They later turned it into an even more important project, recutting it as “Let’s Talk about AIDS,” an extended public service announcement for safe sex. The album reached #38 and platinum status.

Over the next two years, the group separated from Azor. In 1993, Salt-N-Pepa released their fourth album, Vety Necessary. The new album brought a sheen of sophistication to their previously jejune sexuality, which went over in a very big way. The first single, “Shoop” rose to #4 and went gold. The follow-up, a reworking of an obscure single by Stax artist Linda Lyndell’s “What a Man” recorded with vocal group En Vogue, reached #3 and went platinum. The third single, “None of Your Business,” only reached #32, but came out in time to be eligible for the 1995 Grammy Awards, winning for Best Rap Performance. They went on tour with R. Kelly.

Another three-year hiatus followed, with the group recording a tune here and there for soundtracks and appearing in the film Who’s Da Man. They headlined the 1995 fundraising project, “Ain’t Nothing But a She Thing,” with their contribution hitting #38 on the pop charts. During the fall of 1997, the group put out Brand New. Despite an eclectic line-up of guest artists, including Kirk Franklin, Sheryl Crow, and Queen Latifa, the album didn’t perform as well as expected, despite going gold. Denton married Treach from Naughty By Nature. James had already married and had a couple of children. Roper made a solo album (with an appearance by Salt-n-Pepa) and opened a Queens-based day spa. Denton opened a clothing boutique in Atlanta. Another greatest hit package was planned for release in 2000.