When Salt-N-Pepa jumped into the rap scene, a new era of hip-hop was born – a time for women to harness their own power and flip the male-dominated genre on its head. They established a new look and style with their spandex, asymmetrical haircuts, and Dapper Dan jackets.  Musically they mixed a two-MC flow with expert DJ technique, all while blending hip-hop beats with pop– and R&B–influenced melodies and confident lyrics celebrating female empowerment.  They were the first major all-female rap group and the first women in rap to go platinum, crowning them the First Ladies of Rap.

Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton were nursing students at Queensborough Community College when they met while working together at Sears. At the urging of their friend – and later producer and songwriter – Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor, they cut the track “The Showstopper” for his music school project, a response to Doug E. Fresh’s single “The Show.” The song was a radio hit, and the group soon rounded out their act by adding a DJ – Dee Dee Roper as Spinderella. The group’s 1986 debut, Hot, Cool & Vicious, gained traction, but it was the B side to “Tramp,” 1987’s “Push It,” that would catapult them onto the charts. Peaking at 19 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song’s real impact came with its nomination for Best Rap Performance at the Grammys in 1989 – the award’s first-ever prize in the rap genre – and a re-released album with the hit track went platinum.

By 1990, Salt-N-Pepa began to flex creative independence with their album Blacks’ Magic, with Salt writing and producing “Expression,” their first track to top the Hot Rap Singles chart. Salt-N-Pepa spoke to a country shaken by the AIDS epidemic with “Let’s Talk About Sex,” a brazen yet honest call for safety and agency. 1993’s “None of Your Business,” off the group’s LP Very Necessary, challenged sexual norms and gender roles even harder, and the track’s Grammy win – a first for women in rap – proved their message landed. Additional hot singles “Whatta Man” (with En Vogue) and the Salt-N-Pepa–penned “Shoop” helped drive the album to five times platinum.

Salt-N-Pepa received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2021 Grammys, the first female rappers to enjoy the honor. The group has inspired five decades of female MCs – MC Lyte said, “There’s no way that I can say that I wasn’t influenced by Salt-N-Pepa.” Their undeniably provocative, fresh style and worldwide commercial success broke ground for women in rap.