In the Spotlight showcases a cross-section of an artist’s cover work. View past installments, then post suggestions for future picks in the comments!
I still remember the first time I ever heard Salt-N-Pepa. It was in 1986 (!) and I was in my room drawing pictures when the boasty-brilliant “My Mic Sounds Nice” came on the radio. It was a ridiculously goofy line from the song that hooked me: “The room temperature reaches a hundred and four, you can scramble eggs on the floor.” Hear it here.
That was the song that introduced me to S and P and rocketed me to the record store to grab their seminal debut album Hot, Cool & Vicious. I was born in Queens, grew up on Long Island, and back then was going to school in Manhattan. To me, Salt-N-Pepa just plain sounded like New York City. They even mentioned Babylon in the song, a Long Island town a mere ten miles from mine, and turned it into an insult: “I know you come from Babylon, and you know why? Cause you’re a babble-on MC”!
That was the topper. Salt-N-Pepa freakin’ ruled.
All that aside, Salt-N-Pepa were universal. It was the power of their singular personas, Cheryl “Salt” James (Cool), Sandy “Pepa” Denton (Hot), and DJ Deidra “Spinderella” Roper (Vicious). Their vibes, their joy, their empowering empathy and charisma. They were girls doing what the boys had been dominating, and positively killing it.
Their classic Hip-Pop hits, “Push It”, “Let’s Talk About Sex,” “Whatta Man,” and the inimitable “Shoop” can still get the party started thirty-plus years after they first hit. They even served up one of the greatest album titles of all time: A Salt with a Deadly Pepa.
Regardless of what we think of the RRHOF’s idiosyncratic, bizarro requirements for induction, seeing a female hip-hop artist honored means something. It’s visibility on multiple levels. The fact is, Salt-N-Pepa were one of the greatest hip-hop acts of all-time, male or female, influential and unforgettable.
Missy Elliot is the only other female rap artist who’s a member of the HOF. She’s a worthy recipient and a true innovator…but Salt-N-Pepa should have gone in first. Here’s to it finally happening. To quote “My Mic Sounds Nice” one more time, “Female MC’s is movin’ up here!”
To celebrate, here are two covers that definitely make the room hot enough to prepare some breakfast on the floor…
Laura Catlow- Shoop (Salt-N-Pepa cover)
There aren’t many laudable covers of Salt-N-Pepa songs. The ones that do exist tend to have an irritatingly comedic edge (like this). That’s kind of to be expected. The songs lend themselves to type of treatment because they are full of funny couplets and frothy choruses. The group’s biggest hits from “Shoop” to “Whatta Man” to “Let’s Talk About Sex” are silly sexy, as opposed to seductive sexy. Which is why this acoustic cover from 2013 by Laura Catlow stands alone in the Salt-N-Pepa cover canon. No funny stuff here, just earnest and fiery Laura C. singing and playing like a runaway freight train. It is basically “Subterranean Homesick Shoop,” and it kicks all kinds of ass.
Salt-N-Pepa -You Showed Me (The Turtles cover)
Salt-N-Pepa have done a few covers in their career but none are more curious and funky-fun than their cover-ish version of The Turtles 1968 evergreen classic, “You Showed Me.” Fun fact: Byrds-men Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark wrote the song in 1964. Not-so-fun fact: the Turtles sued De La Soul for $1.7 million for sampling it without permission on their classic album 3 Feet High and Rising.
Recorded for their 1990 album Blacks’ Magic and released as single the following year, S and P customized, revised and supersized the verses whilst holding onto the original chorus. It got as high as number 15 in the UK pop singles chart and featured a video that is oh-so-perfectly nineties (see here). The thing is, the best way to experience this cover is not the definitively dope studio version. Instead, check out this 1992 TV performance, most especially Cheryl “Salt” James in the last minute, who casually shows everyone why she is one of the all-time great MC’s. Catch a wave and ride it…
Follow our complete Rock and Roll Hall of Fame series here! All week long we’ll be sharing covers by/of every artist inducted: Cyndi Lauper, Chubby Checker, Joe Cocker, The White Stripes, Salt n Pepa, Bad Company, Soundgarden, and Warren Zevon!
