MUSIC

Reliant Arena presents Fresh Fest featuring Salt N Pepa. With Doug E. Fresh, Naughty by Nature, Slick Rick, Kid & Play and Kurtis Blow! Saturday, November 6 at 8pm.

For about a decade, few musicians — gender be damned — could match the smarts or wit of Salt-N-Pepa. Formed in 1985, the trio busted out of Queens with the scratchin' street-funk of "Tramp" and its flipside, the sultry schoolyard-rap chant "Push It." Later came the consciousness-raising "Let's Talk About Sex" and what's perhaps Salt-N-Pepa's best-known work: 1993's Very Necessary, which contains "Whatta Man," "None of Your Business" and the almighty "Shoop."

After disbanding in 2002, the act reunited five years later — and with a new album reportedly in the works, their ladies-first sentiments and strong, empowering voices will no doubt be welcomed with open arms.

Salt-n-Pepa is an Hip Hop trio that came onto the music scene in 1986 and went on to sell over 10 million albums worldwide. The lineup consists of: Cheryl James (now known as Cheryl Wray), Sandra Denton ("Salt" and "Pepa", respectively), and Deidra "Dee Dee" Roper (DJ Spinderella).

Originally called Supernature, the group debuted in 1985 on Pop Art Records with "The Show Stopper", an answer record to Doug E. Fresh's "The Show". It sampled a famous scene from the 1985 hit movie "Revenge of the Nerds." It was an underground hit and Salt-n-Pepa signed to Next Plateau.

Their 1986 debut album, Hot, Cool & Vicious, was by Salt's then-boyfriend, Hurby Azor (also the group's manager); he also received songwriting credit for the album that was later disputed. It also featured DJ Latoya Hanson as the original Spinderella. Though she does not appear in the album's credits, her face is on the album cover. Hot, Cool & Vicious received some airplay on R&B stations thanks to the songs "My Mic Sound Nice" and "Tramp".

But when San Francisco DJ and producer Cameron Paul created a remix of "Push It", the b-side to "Tramp", it gave the group their first major hit single. Cameron Paul's "Push It" remix was added to subsequent pressings of Hot, Cool & Vicious and was released as a single, quickly becoming a platinum Top 20 pop hit, receiving a Grammy nomination, and helping the album reach Platinum album status.

At this time, Latoya Hanson left the group to get married, and teenage DJ Deidra "Dee Dee" Roper was recruited to take over as Spinderella (keeping the same name Hanson had used). Despite their record label's (Next Plateau) reports of generating massive album sales following the 'Mandela' concert appearance, their second album, 1988's A Salt With a Deadly Pepa, attained gold status upon its release. It contained a moderate hit in "Shake Your Thang" (featuring the go-go band E.U.) and a minor hit with "Everybody Get Up." Another single, "Twist And Shout" was a hit in the UK and Africa.

Their third album, Blacks' Magic, was released in March 1990, and became a breakthrough moment for the group, on personal terms. Azor—often late or a no show to their sessions—agreed to let the women work with other producers to finish the album. James and Denton took on their first producing assignments themselves and worked with Invincible's Producer Dana "Dum" Mozie and others.

The result was hit singles..produced by James), "Do You Want Me", and "Let's Talk About Sex." The album became a best seller. Salt-n-Pepa's fourth album Very Necessary, released in September 1993 was their most successful album to date. Breaking further away from Azor, whom the group accused of not paying them fair royalties, the album featured production by James, Denton, and this time Roper as well, and performed extremely well on the charts.

Buoyed by the singles "Shoop" (their first U.S. Top Ten), "Whatta Man" (with En Vogue and also a Top Ten hit) and "None of Your Business", the album eventually went four times platinum in the U.S. at its time of release.

The group toured and Salt went on to co-star in the motion picture Who's the Man?, and Pepa co-starred in the movie Joe's Apartment. The trio also won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 1995 for "None Of Your Business", making them the first female rap Grammy winners.

Having completely broken away from Azor, they signed with Red Ant Entertainment for their next release, and undertook production duties again. Their fifth album, "Brand New" (1997), hit stores a few months later and received good reviews upon its release. Red Ant filed for bankruptcy soon afterwards, halting promotion on the album before it really began. Salt-n-Pepa toured in support of the album, but without promotion from the bankrupt label, only scored minor hits such as "R U Ready" and "Gitty Up". In March 1999, Salt-n-Pepa embarked on their final live tour. Salt-n-Pepa's greatest-hits album, entitled Salt-n-Pepa: The Best Of was released on January 25, 2000.

The group officially disbanded in 2002. Upon disbanding, Salt claimed she had enough of the music industry and would no longer be involved in it. However, all that changed when Cheryl announced that she would be releasing her first solo CD "Salt of the Earth" which later changed to "Salt Unrapped". Cheryl has also been featured on the remix version of the Salt City Six's "Shine", on the album Holy South: World Wide, a compilation of Chrisitian rap and Christian R&P (Rhythm & Praise) songs. The album was executive produced by ex-Three 6 Mafia member turned Christian rapper, Mr. Del.

Cheryl James and Sandy Denton appeared on VH1's Hip Hop Honors in November 2004. Although Salt-n-Pepa were honorees, James and Denton did not perform. Deidre Roper (DJ Spinderella) did not attend.

Salt-n-Pepa (and Spinderella) reunited the following year for the next Hip Hop Honors program, singing Whatta Man with En Vogue—their first performance in six years. Spinderella was a radio personality on KKBT 100.3 in Los Angeles. As of mid-2006, she is still on the radio, hosting (with DJ Mo'Dav.) The Backspin, a nationally-syndicated weekly radio show featuring old school hip hop. Pepa apeared on the fifth season of VH-1's The Surreal Life (2005) and placed third in The Surreal Life: Fame Games (2007).