Interview: Salt-N-Pepa Shares Advice On How To Unite Today’s Female Hip-Hop Artists
On Friday, Hollywood gave hip-hop royalty their flowers, when Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Spinderella (who received a replica plaque for her achievements) received their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The hip-hop group opened doors and paved the way for many of today’s female rappers, showcasing you can be intelligent, powerful, and still sexy. The duo has broken the charts and became the first female hip-hop act to attain gold and platinum status by the Recording Industry Association of America from their first album, Hot, Cool & Vicious.
The three veterans gathered together on Friday (November 4) with a few industry peers that included: Laurieann Gibson, Elise Neal, Roxanne Shante, and others who delivered heartfelt speeches before marking their territory next to Missy Elliot on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The ceremony marks the 2,738th star to be given out in the recording category.
After powerful speeches from guest speakers MC Lyte and Shante, the ladies each took a turn to share their sentiments on their impact and how appreciative they were of receiving this honor.
In a conversation with BET.com after the ceremony, Salt-N-Pepa chatted about the key ingredient to unifying women in hip-hop today.
“It’s time for people like Salt-N-Pepa, the Roxanne Shante’s, the Missy Elliot’s, and the Queen Latifah’s to come together because we’re legends of experience and to have a place where the ladies can have a place to talk to us,” Pepa began.
“They are all doing great, but they should have a space to talk to us — the Godmothers in this business because we’ve been through some stuff.”
As we approach hip-hop’s 50th birthday, the rap duo also shared what they would like their legacy to look like.
“I want it to look like today — receiving all the accolades we worked hard for that we deserve and being able to say we made a difference amongst other women,” Salt shared.
“Many women come up to us and share how we helped them get through a challenging relationship, through college, or how we inspired them in many ways to go for their dreams. Anything can happen — when God gives you a gift, He makes a way and makes room for it. If you scared, go shake it, and do it.”
It’s unfortunate the number of losses hip-hop has had in such a short period, with senseless gun violence taking the lives of rising stars in the genre, and Salt explained how older artists could help.
“I think the pioneers need to come together on one accord and take the young artists under our wing,” Salt expressed.
“We need to speak out and not be afraid to talk about the violence and how it’s affecting our community. At one point, it was one incident with Biggie and Tupac — 25 years later, you can count all the rappers being murdered, and it has to stop. Whatever we can do as auntie and godmothers [laughs] to help the young people pull it together, it needs to be a change in the message in the music — especially when it comes to murder music because it’s manifesting for real.”
*This interview has been edited for length and clarity
Ty Cole is a New York-based entertainment reporter and writer for BET.com who covers pop culture, music, and lifestyle. Follow his latest musings on Twitter @IamTyCole.
