Shake Your Thang

The word kismet in Turkish means fate and sometimes it means chance.

The only word to describe Salt ‘N’ Pepa’s breakout success, ‘Push It’, is kismet. That does not mean they were lucky, fate involves a lot of hard work and determination. It involves vision and the ability to take control and the ability to see what you want and grab it. There is definitely an element of all the right pieces coming together at exactly the right time.

In the middle of 1985, Cheryl 'Salt' James met Sandra 'Pepa' Denton, both studying nursing at Queensborough Community College. The pair became friends and worked together at Sears. They also worked with Hurby ‘Luv Bug’ Azor, he was studying music production at the Center of Media Arts. James and Denton recorded for him as part of a class project. This resulted in the single "The Showstoppa", a response to Doug E. Fresh's single "The Show”.

The independent Pop Art Records gave it an official release, and "The Show Stoppa (Is Stupid Fresh)" became a modest hit. The single reached No. 46 on the Billboard R&B chart. In September 1985, the group signed to Next Plateau Entertainment (formerly Next Plateau Records), adopting the stage name Salt-N-Pepa and released their debut album Hot, Cool & Vicious in December 1986.

The album features the songs "The Show Stoppa" and "I'll Take Your Man", recorded and released prior to the full album's release. It also includes radio favourites "Tramp" and "My Mic Sound Nice".

Somewhere in the multiverse that was the last we heard of Salt ‘N’ Pepa. They briefly illuminated the night and then flickered out. Except here in our universe, a serious of events happened, opportunity knocked twice and Salt 'N' Pepa took ownership of their identity. A brand needed building. It was time for this group to ‘Shake Their Thang’.

Spinderella Not a Fella (But a Girl DJ)

The biggest mistake people make about Salt 'N' Pepa is they think they are a duo. Early marketing pointed towards this. The truth is the group is a trio. They are the two MC's and the DJ. The group's original DJ, Latoya Hanson, had missed rehearsals and appearances, and they were looking for a replacement. They appointed 16 year old, Deidra Muriel Roper and she became Spinderella the final piece to the jigsaw.

Now as a trio with a single purpose they could address their other problems. One was image. Hurby Azor had as their manager and producer had a definite idea of how Salt 'N' Pepa should look. Hurby was a Prince fan and initially dressed his MC's in paisley prints. He wanted Cheryl and Sandra to be his very own Wendy and Lisa. The trio had no interest in wanting to be in Hurby's Revolution. They wanted to start their own.

Changing Direction

If you look at Hurby Azor in the finished 'Push It' video, he is on keyboards, you can see how he has misread the time. His colourful suit and image owes a lot to the image set out by artists like Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five. Salt 'N' Pepa had seen the change in direction that Hip Hop was taking. The flashiness was leaving Hip Hop, it would return in commercial artists like MC Hammer in the 90s, Hip Hop was getting 'real'. The breakdancing hip hop of the early eighties was changing. It was going back to the streets and so was its style. Artists like Run DMC had arrived. They were teaching a new school. They established the core importance of MC and DJ working together. They also incorporated a street sense of style such as Kangol hats, leather jackets, and unlaced Adidas shoes. Hip Hop was moving in their direction. The Run DMC logo became an important piece of identity, six letters sandwiched in-between two red lines. Every brand needs a logo. They knew who they were, they were authentic. 1987 would also usher in the arrival of N.W.A. and Public Enemy. Salt 'N' Pepa were travelling in the wrong direction.

Salt 'N' Pepa knew they too needed to feel authentic and so did their brand.

The Remix

The first releases of their debut album had failed to ignite the music scene. They were disappearing and interest in them was starting to wane. Then a DJ took the B-Side of Tramp and remixed it.

A B-side was originally known as the song on the flipside of a 12" or 7" vinyl single that backed the A-side, but wasn't the song promoted or receiving radio play. The B-side song was usually determined not to fit in with the overall sound of the album or it was considered not good enough to be on the album or just plain leftover tracks, so it was used as a B-side. B-sides have often got a reputation of being filler and sub-par. DJ's loved B-Sides, this gave them a sound not heard on the radio to incorporate into their set.

'Push it' by Salt 'N' Pepa's own admission was a little 'too poppy'. In 1987 Cameron Paul saw potential and remixed it. Enhanced the bassline and tweaked a few bits here and there. It was a hit. Next Plateau brought the remix but they had a problem. 'Push It' was not even included on the album.

The single was to be rereleased and the album needed repressing including 'Push it'. This was the 80s it needed a music video and it needed one quick. With a second bite of the apple on offer, the rebrand would have to be fast.

The Logo

Christopher Martin (also known as Play from Kid 'N' Play) was friends with Cheryl and Sandra from back working at Sears. He was a passionate about their brand and designed this new logo for the group.

Now they had to address image. Their performance was going to be a stage piece. No gimmicks, just one raw performance like Run DMC's 'Mary Mary'. Their identity was key, their image had to be 'fresh' it had to grab attention. Christopher Martin suggested they look uptown. They looked no further than 'Dapper Dan'.

Dapper Dan

Daniel Day, known as Dapper Dan, is an American Icon and haberdasher from Harlem, New York. His influential store, Dapper Dan's Boutique, operated from 1982–92 and is associated with introducing high fashion to the street. He was famous at the time for his 'knock ups'. He had noticed how brands were becoming instrumental to street wear. He famously took the brands of Gucci and Louis Vuitton and created smart styled jackets for the up and coming hustler. An original Dapper Dan piece was a statement. Except Salt 'N' Pepa needed original branding not 'knock offs' for their creation.

Salt 'N' Pepa did not want to imitate, they wanted to innovate. So legend has it that Christopher Martin took his designs with the word Idolmaker down own side, the dramatic masks and the words 'Let there be music' on the other. A 'S' and a 'P' on the elbows and the new logo on the back to Dapper Dan. Because of Dan's reputation of failing to meet deadlines, Christopher camped down in the shop for twenty hours until the three jackets were complete. He then rushed to the airport with the coats and flew to meet the girls just in time for a key photoshoot.

The band has since said that their jackets are as a famous as them. They have wrongly been seen as variations of Michael Hoban's 8-Ball jacket. This is not the case, the iconic 8-Ball jacket did not arrive until 1990 this was still 1987.

Looking at the picture below, on the left you have the original 'Tramp' release with 'Push It' as a B-Side. On the right you have the new release of 'Push It' as an A-Side. Things were starting to come together.

The Video

The video was a bold move, they chose to do a straight stage show. They were not moody and anti establishment like the new wave of male rappers and the glam flash of the early breakdancing crews was history. They had asymmetric bobs, undercuts and tramlines, a happy accident resulting from a hairdressing misadventure. They also wore large hoop earrings and big chains. They dressed like women and brought fun, fashion and femininity to hip-hop. They had a fierce stage presence and smashed it out of the park. This was something new, something new out of the old.

'Push It' was an enormous hit. The single went on to sell over a million copies. A foundation stone to a massive legacy. They trailblazed through hip hop, kicking doors open that should have been held open for them. The band openly admit that the patriarchy of 80s rap and hip hop did not want them. That right there is an article of its own. When you build a brand the way they did you find yourself taking an important seat at the table. They did it all travelling against the current. They earnt it.

They have had so many hits 'Shake Your Thang', 'Expression', 'Do You Want Me', 'Champagne' and the genre defining 'Let's Talk About Sex Baby', 'Shoop', 'Whatta Man' with En Vogue and the Grammy winning cherry on the cake 'None of Your Business'. They took home a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1995, which in turn, made these ladies the first females within rap music to win a Grammy. The group also took home several MTV Video music awards, and was awarded the I Am Hip Hop Icon Award at the BET Awards in 2010. Later this year they will be awarded Lifetime Achievement Grammy's.

They released five studio albums, 'Hot, Cool & Vicious' in 1986, helped by the reissue including 'Push It', awarded the trio the first female rap act to be certified gold or platinum. The album went on to sell 1.4 million copies worldwide and seven years later, the group would reach a new milestone for women in hip hop, with their 1993 album 'Very Necessary' selling seven million copies worldwide, making them the first female rap act to have a multi-platinum selling album.

This article has been more about style over substance so they also need to be given credit for being innovators of the following.

They taught women to be unapologetic and fierce through their fashion. The tramlined asymmetric bob cut was theirs, a result of salvaging a bad perm accident by Pep’s sister on Pep. Custom leather jackets became their signature. They rocked the Kente hats as an acknowledgement of their roots and history. Knee pads, which started as a functional part of their act, became fashion pieces, notably adopted by Madonna and the designer Chanel. Distressed denim was started by Pepa. The 80s rough wear trend became a sexy, feminine look through, ripped denim jeans and patched jackets. Catwalk ripped jeans started right here.

They were the Undisputed First Ladies of Rap and Hip Hop.

This January, Lifetime released a biopic of their story check out the trailer to find out more about their incredible story.

I am going to leave Sarah Oakes of Daily Life with the final words

"'None Of Your Business' is a fist-pumping, anti slut-shaming anthem a solid decade before the term was ever used in the mainstream. It is a war cry for women against the people and institutions that judge them for having sex, enjoying sex or expressing their sexuality with an I-do-not-give-a-shit attitude that is as infectious as its bass line. I feel like if 'None Of Your Business' was released today, it would go viral in an instant . What makes Salt N Pepa so bold is that they independently chose to flip the script. They behaved like they were as empowered as the male rappers. They wore sexy clothing, talked about enjoying casual sex, they objectified men, and across many tracks directly addressed the way women were/are shamed for promiscuous behaviours." ... "On the 20th anniversary of their Grammy for 'None Of Your Business', I don't think it's an overstatement to call these women visionaries and we need more like them."

It all started for me that day when they filmed the video for ‘Push It’ and birthed a brand. Once they found that identity it truly was kismet.

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