Rap Diva’s Salt -N-Pepa Return
Salt-N-Pepa kick off Essence Fest with a bang
On “A Salt With A Deadly Pepa,” Salt-N-Pepa’s 1988 sophomore album, the then-24-year-old Cheryl “Salt” James rhymed, slyly, “Every curve on my body got a story to tell.”
21 years later, the trailblazing hip-hop duo sports a few more curves – and a whole lot more stories. At the time of their debut as hip-hop’s first platinum-selling female act, the barely post-adolescent MCs had an image that was saucy, bratty and tomboyish, wearing torn tees, bike shorts and door-knocker earrings. The pair that kicked off Essence Fest with “My Mic Sound Nice,” from that album, were more polished and fashionable than their younger selves – Pepa in a thigh-grazing silver mini and Salt in towering knee-high black boots – but not lacking an ounce of their trademark energy.
On the big-screen monitors, it was visible that the two rappers sported ear-to-ear grins as they strutted with a team of backup dancers. They vamped through “Expression” wearing red feather boas, and barely paused to address the audience until dedicating “Whatta Man,” their 1993 hit duet with fellow Essence performers En Vogue, to Michael Jackson.
In a situation that is now not uncommon , Salt-N-Pepa have worked out their personal issues quite publicly in recent years on reality TV. And in what was a very Essence magazine moment, the two paused to hug before tearing into their career-making 1986 hit “Push It.”
Salt took a moment to editorialize.
“There’s been a debate,” she said, “about whether ‘Push It’ is about sex, or dancing.”
“So in 2009, we’re gonna change the meaning of ‘Push It.’ We’re pushing it for all the soldiers to come home. We’re gonna push it for all the single mothers holding it down. We’re gonna push it for world peace, and for an end to gang violence in our streets.”
“And most of all, we’re gonna push it for change in America, with our new president, Barack Obama.”
Salt-N-Pepa, along with their longtime DJ Spinderella, have a new project in the works, and toward the close of the set, they debuted two tracks from that album, one entitled “Big Girls.” The song was classic Salt-N-Pepa, with vintage beats and no hint of trendy studio tricks. But more than that, maybe, it showed that a trio of forty-something moms were still nothing more than big girls, and could still rock a mic as hard – or harder – than two decades previous.
Source:
Nola.Com
