Salt-N-Pepa Biography

Formed in 1985, Salt-N-Pepa is one of the first and most successful all-female rap groups. Hailing from Queens, New York, Cheryl James, Sandra Denton and Deidra Roper made history with hit singles such as “Push It”, “Shoop” and “Let’s Talk About Sex“.

Early Years & Breakthrough

The group formed during an unfavourable period for hip-hop music. The major labels refused to sigh artists withing this genre. Salt-N-Pepa released their debut single “The Showstopper” as Super Nature and gained some exposure in New York. Salt-N-Pepa mostly stood up due to being one of the first all-female rap groups, additionally having strong messages in their songs. One year later, the girls released their debut album, as Salt-N-Pepa, “Hot, Cool & Vicious”. Most noteworthy, it spawned the band’s iconic Platinum-certified single “Push It“. The album itself was a huge success.

Continuous Success (1988-1993)

Following up on that success, the group released  “A Salt with a Deadly Pepa”, which spawned 2 notable singles, “Shake Your Thang” and “Twist and Shout”. They reached Platinum again, in 1990, with “Blacks’ Magic”, the parent album of the legendary “Let’s Talk About Sex”. The single reached number 13 in the US and 2 in the UK. Next up, the girls came out with 1993’s 5x Platinum album “Very Necessary”, generating 2 Platinum, top 5 singles, “Shoop” and “Whatta Man”, with En Vogue.

Photo credit: DanWarp