Salt-N-Pepa are an American hip-hop Girl Group, founded in 1985. For virtually its entire existence, the group has been comprised of rappers Cheryl "Salt" James and Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and DJ/occasional rapper Deidra "Spinderella" Roper.
The group has broken many barriers. They were the first all-female hip-hop group, the first female rap act to have an album go gold and platinum (their debut album, Hot, Cool, & Vicious), the first female rap act to win a Grammy (in 1995), and the best-selling female rap act, with over 15 million records sold.
In May 2019, Roper was fired from the band under unclear circumstances and was replaced with DJ Cocoa Chanelle for touring purposes.
Discography:
- Hot, Cool & Vicious (1986)
- A Salt with a Deadly Pepa (1988)
- Blacks' Magic (1990)
- Very Necessary (1993)
- Brand New (1997)
Their music and songs contain examples of:
- Format-Specific Joke: The song "Let's Talk About Sex" tells people who don't want to hear the song (due to the topic) to "pick up the needle, press pause, or turn the radio off." While one can still press pause on a streaming song or turn the radio off, hardly anyone past the mid 1990s is going to pick up a record needle.
- Intercourse with You:
- "Let's Talk About Sex" is a Deconstruction. While the song does not demonize sex, describing it as natural and something that most people do and enjoy, it discusses problems that other sex songs tend to avoid. One verse details the life of a Femme Fatale who is able to seduce any man into doing whatever she wants, but ends up feeling like she lacks deep, meaningful relationships in her life as a result; another is about a guy who screws a girl without a condom, giving her an STI.
- "Shoop" plays this straighter, with the duo rapping about attractive men and what they want to do with them.
- Name and Name: After James' and Denton's respective stage names.
- Singer Namedrop: "Push It" begins its first verse with "Salt and Pepa's here".
- Status Cell Phone: Referenced in "Express Yourself", where they talk about a "business man with
a beeper for a reason, not like Tim because it's in this season." - Think of the Censors!: "Let's Talk About Sex" was about bringing the topic of sex into public discussion, back in the early 90's, and acknowledged that people probably didn't want to hear it.Salt: Yo, Pep, I don't think they're gonna play this on the radio
