Salt-N-Pepa

Released: October 12, 1993

Songwriter: Herby “Luvbug” Azor Dana Jr. Mozie Anthony Williams Steve Azor

Producer: Herby “Luvbug” Azor

[Intro]
A-one, a-one-two
It's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like...

[Hook]
Everybody wants to be a big shot
Everybody wants to make a quick buck
Everybody wants to be on the top
Everybody wants to be...

Everybody wants to be a big shot
Everybody wants to make a quick buck
Everybody wants to be on the top
Everybody wants to be...

[Verse 1: Salt]
Just like me, just like me
The S to the A to the L to the fa-sol-la T's makin' dough
(Nuts?) No, but as in big bucks
So (huh?), so (who?), so what the hell
It doesn't matter who goes 'n buy my records long as they sell
And I can tell that you don't like me very well
Pop-popular hit, pop hits is makin' my pockets swell

And makin' me a little rich now (yeah, baby)
You ain't seen nothing if you think that I'm a bitch now
Check it out, check it out
Just watch me, just watch me

I wasn't tryin' to be a hooker sellin' pootang
Up and down the block just ain't my thang
I seen a lot of women fall and gettin' fast money
Cuz either AIDS or jail will get that ass, honey

I needed more to explore so I tried rap
Now in 1993, I'm livin' mad fat
Check my attitude it comes with the territory, baby
And now I'm drivin' niggas crazy

Everybody wants to be a big shot (Yeah, yeah)
Everybody wants to make a quick buck (It's all about me!)
Everybody wants to be on the top (Uh-huh, uh-huh)
Everybody wants to be...

Everybody wants to be a big shot
Everybody wants to make a quick buck
Everybody wants to be on the top
Everybody wants to be...

[Verse 2: Pepa]
Everybody wants to get paid, paid like a lewd maid
Poppin' that coochie or sellin' fake Gucci
Whatever's in style and costs a big pile
Just to get one, niggas get a real file
It's all about the great paper chase
A million dollars worth of whip appeal could even buy Babyface
So meet me on the rooftop and have my money right
Cuz I'm the new lady boss keepin' game tight

[Pre-Chorus: Spinderella]
So, you think you're all that, feelin' kinda phat
But can you see where the wrong is?
I, I don't know much about ya
But there's no doubt you're out to get yours any way you can

Everybody wants to be a big shot
Everybody wants to make a quick buck
Everybody wants to be on the top
Everybody wants to be...

Everybody wants to be a big shot
Everybody wants to make a quick buck
Everybody wants to be on the top
Everybody wants to be...

(You know what? I can't stand them Salt-N-Pepa bitches, boy
Oh, me neither!
They think they're all that cuz they're popular in Europe
Yeah, probably sell-out hookers
Oh, oh, and they swear everybody want to be like them
What?! Please, I don't wanna be like them bitches
I know - live in a big house and have all them bills and headaches and stuff
Oh, and Spinderella
I know... Nah, nah, nah, she's cool, it's them other bitches I can't stand)

(So I'm a bitch now?)
Oh, shoot, there they go right there! Salt, Pepa!
(Sometimes I be buggin' because I'm rich now)
Yo, Pepa, can I get your autograph for my son?
(Well, I don't need nothin' cuz you know that I'm a bitch, y'all)
Yo, y'all's hair is real fly, where'd y'all get y'all hair done at?
(You say, "oh, ain't she somethin'" because I'm rich now
And I'll bet you wanna be like me)
Still can't stand them bitches
(Because I'm rich, y'all, and I'm a bitch, y'all
A rich bitch, y'all, and I know)

Everybody wants to be a big shot
Everybody wants to make a quick buck
Everybody wants to be on the top
Everybody wants to be...

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

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From the album

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Very Necessary