Salt-N-Pepa

Released: December 8, 1986

Songwriter: Herby “Luvbug” Azor

Producer: Herby “Luvbug” Azor

Hey-a, forward the music selector
We get tougher, aye (??)
Salt and Pepa draw the people into hysterics
With the serious lyrics, right?

It's all right

We gonna take it to the top
We're gonna make your body rock
And we got, we got, we got, gotta make it hot
So come, get on, hop on the dance floor
If you want to declare war - it's all right

It's all right

Now it's ruckus time in the place tonight
Salt and Pepa has just comandeered the mic
Hurby the producer ain't no joke
He always makes sure the beats are dope
When I explore I take you down to the core
Wanted by the FBI as a wicked outlaw
For torturing and murdering MCs
Who try to recreate def rhymes like these
On stage I'm a terror, mascarra don't smear-a (?)
Stockings don't run, and men don't dare-a
Speak out and disrespect Salt and Pepa
We smash MCs with one big stepper
Here to rule, MCs I school
The mic's my tool, I'm no one's fool
That's right, I said it, the girl's got brains
And my full name is Cheryl James - all right

It's all right

It came straight from the mouth rhymes I disperse
I save sucker duck rappers to quench my thirst
I sucker all suckers by selling a dream
When I serve and strengthen any rap team
We'll ignite and your crew just melt like wax
So tell your family and your friends
That we're here to attack
We prepare to win a battle at any cost
Just remember duck rapper, it's not my loss - it's all right

It's all right

And when I rhyme a funky rhyme
Till my throat is sore
When I rhyme till you just can't take no more
You disagree? Kill the noise
Cuz you know I can
Just place the microphone inside my hand
And watch me rhyme-a funky lyrics
You gotta admit, you disagree?
Ask your man - even he's on it
Cuz when I wanna show damage, I'll explode
At a wink of an eye rhymes I'll reload - it's all right

It's all right

Now when we came, we saw, we conquered
Because you tried to be bold, you tried to be bad
You tried to get ill, you tried to fake mad
Whip out my microphone and Turtle Wax that ass
So don't mess around, don't make me laugh
You gotta be jokin', you will get broken
I'll burn you and leave your ashes smokin'
Then I'll put you in my hand, blow you into the wind
So you better notify your next of kin - all right

It's all right

Rip it again, right
It's all right
Rewind selector right

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

It’s AlrightSalt-N-Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa

Hot, Cool and Vicious