Salt-N-Pepa

Released: December 8, 1986

Songwriter: Herby “Luvbug” Azor

Producer: Herby “Luvbug” Azor

Oooh, baby, I like the sound when
The switch is on, and you start poundin'
Out my radio and pretty soon
Salt and Pepa will boom into the room

Clap your hands now people, clap hard
Clap your hands now people, clap your hands
Clap your hands now people, stomp your feet
Clap your hands now people, clap with me

Listen hard and tell me what you hear
Is it noise or is it def beats in your ear?
You said you want one, and now you got some
Vicious snare, high hats, and a bass drum
First the mix empress to impress you
Cutting right on time and I'll bet you
Didn't know it (did you?), you can't believe it (could you?)
Word to life, I swear, we wouldn't kid you
And she can cut it up like a wild animal
Slicing and dicing away as a cannibal does
Cuz only a beauty can make you people clap with me

Who is the best?
We are the best!
Who's one of the best?

You're one of the best!

Why am I so def? Why don't I have flaws?
Why do I cut for Salt and Pepa? Because
When my turntable talks your body will listen
To a message ?? tested and kickin'
Out of my speakers and into your sneakers
Providing conversation for the woofers and tweeters
When I play the Technics obey
Cuz I'm a fader translator, a mixboard slave
And I'm-a do like this on 'em...this on 'em

When I'm on the floor, beat is like romance
The rhythm makes love to me as I dance
And from what I see it's about to be
A relationship between beauty and the beat
Word up y'all, it's a royal ball
Turn hip-hop clubs into concert halls
Inside is live, if I use up highs
Twelve hundred ??
Power in high drive, the woofers don't lie
Opposites attract so the birthrate's high
Your chest and ribcage the bass is poking at
(Lower the what?) Stop joking...
We can't do that it possess power
You ask how-a people get louder

(Uh, step aside, sir....
Sir, will you please step aside for the....)
Salt and Pepa MC's represent beauty
We want y'all to see why we're the only
Nominee nominated representing our race
This jam is dedicated to all the pretty faces
And we're gonna rock like you like
Spinderella on the mix, Salt and Pepa on the mic
And we can satisfy your desire
We can make your body perspire
Make the men all want to get with it
Then take 'em down to the ultimate
Sounds and I say: Spinderella's not a fella
But a girl DJ!

Salt-N-Pepa is arguably the most successful female rap group of all time. The group began with Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton meeting while studying to be nurses. James got Denton a job at a Sears department store, where her boyfriend Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor also worked. Azor was studying music production and he asked them to help on a school project, an answer record to Doug E. Fresh’s “The Show” they named “The Showstopper” – recorded in 1985 under the name Supernature.

After the legendary Queens DJ Marley Marl played “The Showstopper” on his radio show, the group began getting booked for shows. One lyric in “The Showstopper” was ‘We the salt and pepper’, and people kept requesting ‘that salt and pepper song’, so they changed their name to Salt-N-Pepa. Deejay Deidra “Spinderella” Ropa was added soon after.

SNP’s debut album Hot, Cool, & Vicious originally spawned a minor hit in the UK with “My Mike Sounds Nice” in early 1987. But it was the re-release of a remix of “Push It”, originally a quickly-thrown together b-side for their fall ‘87 single “Tramp”, that shot the group into international stardom. The song reached the top 10 in eleven countries around the world in 1988.

more tracks from the album

Hot, Cool and Vicious

From the album

Hot, Cool and Vicious (1986)

Salt-N-Pepa popular songs

Beauty And The BeatSalt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa

Hot, Cool and Vicious