Salt 'N' Pepa

One of the most successful female pop-rap groups of all time, Salt'N'Pepa formed in the mid-'80s when Cheryl "Salt" James and Jamaican-born Sandy "Pepa" Denton met while working at Sears in New York City. Another co-worker Hurby Luv Bug, was studying record production at the Center of Media Arts, and asked Cheryl and Sandy to record for him as a class project. An answer record to Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew's "The Show", titled "The Showstopper," was released as a single in late 1985 on Pop Art Records and reached No. 46 on the Billboard R&B chart. After signing to Next Plateau Records, adopting the stage name Salt'N'Pepa, and recruiting a female high-school student-DJ named "Spinderella", the duo released Hot, Cool, and Vicious in 1986, written and produced by Azor. The album languished until DJs began playing "Push It" in 1987, sending it to No. 19 and "pushing" the record to platinum sales, a breakthrough for the female rap-trio...