salt n pepa tour 1988

The 20 greatest hip-hop tours of all time

Our ranking, inspired by all the great rap acts on the road this summer, is 100% correct

L ook around and it might feel like we’re in a golden age of rap tours.

Rhyme greats De La Soul recently finished a European tour billed The Gods of Rap with the legendary Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan and Gang Starr’s DJ Premier. And the summer concert season is set to feature even more high-profile hip-hop shows.

West Coast giant Snoop Dogg is headlining the Masters of Ceremony tour with such heavyweights as 50 Cent, DMX, Ludacris and The Lox. Lil Wayne is doing a string of solo gigs and will launch a 38-city tour with pop punk heroes blink-182 starting June 27. Stoner rap fave Wiz Khalifa will headline a 29-city trek on July 9. The reunited Wu-Tang Clan continue their well-received 36 Chambers 25th Anniversary Celebration Tour, and Cardi B will be barnstorming through the beginning of August.

With all this rap talent on the road, The Undefeated decided to take a crack at ranking the 20 greatest hip-hop tours of all time.

Our list was compiled using several rules: First and foremost, the headliners for every tour must be from the hip-hop/rap genre. That means huge record-breaking, co-headlining live runs such as Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s On the Run II Tour were not included, given Queen Bey’s rhythm and blues/pop leanings. We also took into account the cultural and historical impact of each tour. Several artists, ranging from Run-DMC and Salt-N-Pepa to MC Hammer and Nicki Minaj, were included because they broke new ground, beyond how much their tours grossed. For years, hip-hop has battled the perception that it doesn’t translate well to live performance. This list challenges such myopic ideas.

With only 20 spots, some of rap’s most storied live gigs had to be left off the list. Many were casualties of overlap, such as Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys’ memorable 1987 Together Forever Tour and the Sizzling Summer Tour ’90, which featured Public Enemy, Heavy D & the Boyz, Kid ’n Play, Digital Underground and Queen Latifah. The 12-date Lyricist Lounge Tour, a 1998 showcase that featured Big Punisher, The Roots, De La Soul, Black Star, Common, Black Moon’s Buckshot and Fat Joe, also just missed the cut.

You may notice that Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. are missing from the list. But this was no momentary lapse of sanity. ’Pac’s and Biggie’s brief runs took place when rap shows were beginning to become a rarity, leaving most of their memorable stage moments to one-off shows. Dirty South royalty Outkast’s strongest live outing, when Big Boi and Andre 3000 reunited in 2014, was not included because it was less of a tour and more of a savvy festival run.

There are other honorable mentions: Def Jam Survival of the Illest Tour (1998), which featured DMX, the Def Squad, Foxy Brown, Onyx and Cormeg a; the Ruff Ryders/Cash Money Tour (2000); Anger Management 3 Tour with Eminem and 50 Cent (2005); J. Cole’s Dollar & A Dream Tour (2013); and Drake’s Aubrey & The Three Migos LIVE! tour (2018).

With that said, on with the show!

20. Pinkprint Tour (2015)

Nicki Minaj, featuring Meek Mill, Rae Sremmurd, Tinashe and Dej Loaf

The most lucrative hip-hop trek headlined by a woman also served as the coronation of Nicki Minaj as hip-hop’s newest queen. What made The Pinkprint Tour such a gloriously over-the-top affair was its seamless balance of dramatic Broadway-like theater, silly high jinks and a flex of artistic ferocity. One moment Minaj was in a black lace dress covering her eyes while mourning the loss of a turbulent union during “The Crying Game.” The next, she was backing up her memorable appearance on Kanye West’s “Monster” as the most wig-snatching guest verse of that decade. And the Barbz went wild.

Gross : $22 million from 38 shows

Kendrick Lamar performs during the Festival d’ete de Quebec on Friday, July 7, 2017, in Quebec City, Canada.

Amy Harris/Invision/AP

19. The Damn. Tour (2017-18)

Kendrick Lamar, featuring Travis Scott, DRAM and YG

When you have dropped two of the most critically lauded albums of your era in Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012) and To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), there’s already an embarrassment of riches to pull from for any live setting. But Kendrick Lamar understood that to live up to his bold “greatest rapper alive” proclamation he also needed populist anthems to turn on the masses. The Damn. album and world tour presented just that, as he led his followers each night in an elevating rap-along. It kicked off with a martial arts film, a cheeky nod to Lamar’s Kung Fu Kenny alter ego, before launching into the chest-beating “DNA.”

Gross: More than $62.7 million from 62 shows

Drake and Future performing on stage during The Summer Sixteen Tour at AmericanAirlines Arena on Aug. 30, 2016 in Miami.

Getty Images

18. Summer Sixteen Tour (2016)

Drake and Future

This mammoth, co-headlining tour was a no-brainer: Drake, the hit-making heartthrob, Canada’s clap-back native son and part-time goofy Toronto Raptors superfan. And Future, the self-anointed Atlanta Trap King, gleeful nihilist and producer, whose slapping, codeine-addled bars made him a controversial figure on and off record. The magic of this yin/yang pairing shined brightest when they teamed up to perform such tracks as “Jumpman” and “Big Rings” off their industry-shaking 2015 mixtape What a Time to Be Alive . When the smoke settled, Drake and Future walked away with the highest-earning hip-hop tour of all time.

Gross : $84.3 million from 54 shows

From left to right, Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton, DJ Spinderella and Cheryl ‘Salt’ James perform on stage.

17. Salt-N-Pepa Tour (1988)

Featuring Keith Sweat, Heavy D & the Boyz, EU, Johnny Kemp, Full Force, Kid ’n Play and Rob Base

It may seem preposterous in this outspoken, girl-power age of Cardi B, Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, Kash Doll, Young M.A, Tierra Whack and City Girls, but back in the early ’80s, the thought of a “female” rhyme group anchoring a massive tour seemed out of reach. That was before the 1986 debut of Salt-N-Pepa, the pioneering group who’s racked up a plethora of groundbreaking moments and sold more than 15 million albums. The first female rap act to go platinum ( Hot, Cool & Vicious ) and score a Top 20 hit on the Billboard 200 (“Push It”), Salt-N-Pepa led a diverse, arena-hopping showcase that gave the middle finger to any misogynistic notions. And Salt, Pepa and DJ Spinderella continue to be road warriors. They’re currently on New Kids on the Block’s arena-packing Mixtape Tour.

Encore: Opening-act standouts Heavy D & the Boyz would co-headline their own tour the following year off the platinum success of their 1989 masterpiece Big Tyme .

16. Glow in the Dark Tour (2008)

Kanye West, featuring Rihanna, N.E.R.D, Nas, Lupe Fiasco and Santigold

Yes, Kanye West has had more ambitious showings (2013-14’s button-pushing Yeezus Tour) and more aesthetically adventurous gigs (the 2016 Saint Pablo Tour featured a floating stage, which hovered above the audience). But never has the Chicago-born visionary sounded so hungry, focused and optimistic than he did on his first big solo excursion, the Glow in the Dark Tour.

Before the Kardashian reality-show level freak-outs and MAGA hat obsessing, West was just a kid who wanted to share his spacey sci-fi dreamscape with the public, complete with a talking computerized spaceship named Jane. Even the rotating opening acts — topped off by the coolest pop star on the planet, Rihanna — were ridiculously talented.

Gross : $30.8 million from 49 shows

15. I Am Music Tour (2008-09)

Lil Wayne, featuring T-Pain and Keyshia Cole

Between 2002 and 2007, Young Money general Lil Wayne was hip-hop’s hardest-working force of nature, releasing an astounding 16 mixtapes. Then Weezy broke from the pack with the massively successful I Am Music Tour. The bulk of Lil Wayne’s 90-minute set was propelled by his career-defining 2008 album Tha Carter III , which by the show’s second leg had already sold 2 million copies. By the time T-Pain joined the New Orleans spitter for a playful battle of the featured acts, Lil Wayne’s takeover was complete.

Gross : $42 million from 78 shows

MC Hammer, performing on stage in 1990, had a large entourage for his Hammer Don’t Hurt ’Em Tour.

14. Hammer Don’t Hurt ’Em Tour (1990-91)

MC Hammer, featuring En Vogue and Vanilla Ice

With 15 background dancers, 12 singers, seven musicians, two DJs, eight security men, three valets and a private Boeing 727 plane, MC Hammer’s world tour was eye-popping. Rap fans had never seen anything of the magnitude of the Hammer Don’t Hurt ’Em stadium gigs, which recalled Parliament-Funkadelic’s army-size traveling heyday in the 1970s.

Each night the Oakland, California, dancing machine, born Stanley Burrell, left pools of sweat onstage as if he was the second coming of James Brown. If the sight of more than 30 folks onstage doing the Running Man, with MC Hammer breaking into his signature typewriter dance during “U Can’t Touch This,” didn’t make you get up, you should have checked your pulse.

Gross : $26.3 million from 138 shows

13. Things Fall Apart! Tour (1999)

Each gig was a revelation. This was no surprise given that Philadelphia hip-hop collective The Roots, formed by longtime friends drummer Questlove and lead lyricist Black Thought, had a reputation for being unpredictable. Still, it’s ironic that a group known for being the ultimate road warriors — they were known for touring 45 weeks a year before becoming the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2014 — is represented on this list by one of their shortest tours.

But the brilliant Things Fall Apart club and hall sprint, which took place throughout March 1999, proved to be an epic blitz fueled by the band’s most commercially lauded material to date, Questlove’s steady percussive heart and the inhuman breath control of Black Thought.

Encore: Neo soul diva Jill Scott, who co-wrote The Roots’ breakout single “You Got Me,” gave fans an early taste of her artistry as she joined the band onstage for some serious vocal workouts.

12. House of Blues’ Smokin’ Grooves Tour (1996)

The Fugees, Cypress Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Ziggy Marley and Spearhead

While gangsta rap was topping the charts, the hip-hop industry faced a bleak situation on the touring front. Concert promoters were scared to book “urban” acts in large venues. Enter the House of Blues’ Kevin Morrow and Cara Lewis, the booking agent who achieved mythic status when she received a shout-out on Eric B. & Rakim’s 1987 anthem “Paid in Full.” The pair envisioned a Lollapalooza-like tour heavy on hip-hop and good vibes. The first ’96 incarnation came out of the gate with Haitian-American rap trio The Fugees, multiplatinum weed ambassadors Cypress Hill, A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes.

Encore: The series, which has also featured Outkast, The Roots, Lauryn Hill, Gang Starr, The Pharcyde, Foxy Brown and Public Enemy, is credited with opening the door for a return to more straight-ahead hip-hop tours led by Jay-Z, DMX and Dr. Dre.

Kanye West (left) and Jay-Z (right) perform in concert during the Watch The Throne Tour, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J.

11. Watch the Throne Tour (2011-12)

Jay-Z and Kanye West

In better times, Jay-Z and Kanye West exhibited lofty friendship goals we could all aspire to, with their bromance popping on the platinum album Watch the Throne. Before their much-publicized fallout, Jay-Z and West took their act on the road for the mother of all double-bill spectacles.

Two of hip-hop’s greatest traded classics such as the ominous “Where I’m From” (Jay-Z) and soaring “Jesus Walks” (West) from separate stages on opposite sides of the venue. Those lucky enough to catch the tour can still recall the dream tag team launching into their encore of “N—as in Paris” amid roars from thousands of revelers.

Gross : $75.6 million from 63 shows

10. The Miseducation Tour (1999)

Lauryn Hill, featuring Outkast

In 1998, Lauryn Hill wasn’t just the best woman emcee or the best emcee alive and kicking. The former standout Fugees member was briefly the voice of her generation as she rode the multiplatinum, multi-Grammy success of her solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill . By February 1999, it was time to take the show on the road. Hill and her 10-piece band went beyond the hype, especially when they tore through a blistering take of the heartbreaking “Ex-Factor.”

Encore: Outkast (Atlantans Andre 3000 and Big Boi) rocked the house backed by some conspicuous props, including two front grilles of a Cadillac and a throwback Ford truck, kicked off their own headlining Stanklove theater tour in early 2001.

9. No Way Out Tour (1997-98)

Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, Lil’ Kim, Ma$e, Busta Rhymes, Foxy Brown, 112, The Lox, Usher, Kid Capri, Lil’ Cease and Jay-Z

The Los Angeles Times headline spoke volumes: “Combs to Headline Rare Rap Tour.” Combs, of course, is Sean “Diddy” Combs, the music, fashion, television and liquor mogul who Forbes estimates now has a net worth of $820 million. But back then, the hustler formerly known as Puff Daddy was struggling to keep his Bad Boy Records afloat after the March 9, 1997, murder of Brooklyn, New York, rhyme king The Notorious B.I.G.

But out of unspeakable tragedy rose Combs’ chart-dominating No Way Out album and an emotional all-star tour. Despite suggestions that large-scale rap shows were too much of a financial gamble, Puffy rallied the Bad Boy troops and a few close friends and proved the naysayers wrong. The No Way Out Tour was both a cathartic exercise and a joyous celebration of life. “It’s All About the Benjamins” shook the foundation of every building as Combs, The Lox and a show-stealing Lil’ Kim made monetary excess look regal. And the heartfelt Biggie tribute “I’ll Be Missing You,” which was performed live at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, had audiences in tears.

Gross: $16 million

Rap stars, from left, Redman, foreground, DMX, Method Man and Jay-Z join host DJ Clue, background left, in a photo session on Jan. 26, 1999, in New York, after announcing their 40-city Hard Knock Life Tour beginning Feb. 27, in Charlotte, N.C.

AP Photo/Kathy Willens

8. Hard Knock Life Tour (1999)

Jay-Z, featuring DMX, Redman and Method Man

Jay-Z stands now as hip-hop’s most bankable live draw. In 2017, the newly minted billionaire’s 4:44 Live Nation production pulled in $44.7 million, becoming America’s all-time highest-grossing solo rap jaunt. It’s a long way from the days of Jay-Z lumbering through performances in a bulletproof vest when he was last off the bench on Puff Daddy’s No Way Out Tour.

Surely the seeds of Jay-Z’s evolution as a concert staple were first planted on his Hard Knock Life Tour, which was documented in the 2000 film Backstage . This was a confident, full-throated Shawn Carter, and he would need every ounce of charisma, with Ruff Ryders lead dog DMX enrapturing fans as if he were a Baptist preacher at a tent revival and the duo of Redman and Method Man rapping and swinging over crowds from ropes attached to moving cranes. What a gig.

Gross : $18 million

Flavor Flav (left) and Chuck D (right) of the rap group Public Enemy perform onstage in New York in August 1988.

7. Bring the Noise Tour (1988)

Public Enemy and Ice-T, featuring Eazy-E & N.W.A. and EPMD

There has always been a controlled chaos to a Public Enemy live show. Lead orator Chuck D jolted the crowd with a ferocity over the intricate, combustible production of the Bomb Squad while clock-rocking Flavor Flav, the prototypical hype man, jumped and zigzagged across the stage.

DJ Terminator X cut records like a cyborg and never smiled. And Professor Griff and the S1Ws exuded an intimidating, paramilitary presence. Armed with their 1988 watershed black nationalist work, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back , an album many music historians consider to be the pinnacle hip-hop statement, Public Enemy spearheaded arguably the most exciting rap tour ever conceived.

Encore: Along for the wild ride was the godfather of West Coast rap, Ice-T, who was putting on the rest of the country to Los Angeles’ violent Crips and Bloods gang wars with the too-real “Colors.” N.W.A. was just about to set the world on fire with their opus Straight Outta Compton. Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren and DJ Yella unleashed a profanity-laced declaration of street knowledge that was instantly slapped with parental advisory stickers. And Erick and Parrish were making dollars with their rough and raw EPMD joint Strictly Business .

6. Nitro World Tour (1989-90)

LL Cool J, featuring Public Enemy, Eazy E & N.W.A., Big Daddy Kane, Too $hort, EPMD, Slick Rick, De La Soul and Special Ed

But not even LL Cool J was ready for the monster that was N.W.A. The self-proclaimed World’s Most Dangerous Group completely hijacked the spotlight when N.W.A. was warned by officials not to perform their controversial track “F— the Police” at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. A minute into the song, cops stormed the stage and shut down Eazy-E and crew’s volatile set, a wild scene that was later re-created in the 2015 N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton .

Encore: A few months before the Detroit gig, N.W.A. was booed during a Run-DMC show at New York’s Apollo Theater. “We all had watched Showtime at the Apollo , so we all knew if it went bad what was gonna happen,” Ice Cube explained on the Complex story series What Had Happened Was … “We hit the stage, and as soon as they saw the Jheri curls, all you heard was ‘Boo!’ I mean, before we even got a line out, they was booin’. I guess they just wasn’t feeling the Jheri curls.”

Rappers Christopher “Kid” Reid and Christopher “Play” Nolan of Kid ‘n Play perform onstage during “The World’s Greatest Rap Show Ever” on Jan. 3, 1992 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

5. The World’s Greatest Rap Show Ever (1991-92)

Public Enemy, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Geto Boys, Kid ’n Play, Naughty by Nature, A Tribe Called Quest, Leaders of the New School and Oaktown’s 3.5.7.

Props to the promoter who put together this awesome collection of hip-hop firepower for a tour that at least aimed to live up to its tagline. What stands out the most was the early acknowledgment of rap’s reach beyond the East and West coasts. The significance of including Houston’s Geto Boys, for instance, cannot be overstated.

Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill carried the flag for Southern hip-hop, winning over skeptical concertgoers with their raw dissection of ’hood paranoia, “ Mind Playing Tricks on Me ,” which had become a favorite on Yo! MTV Raps . Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince proved they could still rock the house with PG-rated material. (It helped that Will Smith had just begun the first season of NBC’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. ) Queen Latifah busted through the testosterone with the empowering “Ladies First.” And Naughty by Nature frequently knocked out the most crowd-pleasing set of the night with their promiscuous anthem “O.P.P.”

Encore: The World’s Greatest Rap Show Ever made its Jan. 3, 1992, stop at New York’s Madison Square Garden less than a week after nine people were fatally crushed at a hip-hop charity basketball game at City College of New York. Before Public Enemy’s powerful message of black self-determination, Heavy D, an organizer of the doomed event, made a plea for unity. Fans were certainly listening. The gig was a resounding, peaceful triumph.

LL Cool J performs at the Genesis Center in Gary, Indiana in December 1987.

Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

4. Def Jam Tour (1987)

LL Cool J, Whodini, Eric B. & Rakim, Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew, and Public Enemy

From 1986 to 1992, New York’s Def Jam Records was the premier hip-hop label. Its roster of artists, which included Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, EPMD and Slick Rick, was unparalleled in range and cultural dominance. So when it came time for partners Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin to spread the Def Jam gospel on its first international tour, the imprint’s biggest star, LL Cool J, was chosen to lead the way. And he didn’t disappoint.

James Todd Smith strutted out of a giant neon boombox sporting a Kangol hat, dookie rope gold chain and Adidas jacket. Of course, that jacket would soon be thrown to the floor as a shirtless Ladies Love Cool James tore through his ’85 single “Rock the Bells” as if it were the last song he would get to perform.

For many overseas, their first taste of American rap also included DJ Eric B. & Rakim, who were killing the streets with their 1987 masterpiece Paid In Full . Almost overnight in Germany, France, Norway and the Netherlands, hip-hop became the new religion.

Encore: This was the first proper world tour for Public Enemy, who had just dropped their 12-inch single “Rebel Without a Pause.” Although they were the opening act, Chuck D and his posse stole the show, establishing their standing as global behemoths. The now-legendary show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon can be heard throughout It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back .

The Up In Smoke Tour in 2000 was a dream team bill, headed by producer Dr. Dre and featuring Eminem, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and more.

Photo by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

3. Up In Smoke (2000)

Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Eminem, Tha Dogg Pound, Warren G and Nate Dogg, and Xzibit

The multimillion-dollar stage design put the concert industry on notice that not only could rap shows attain the lavish production values of the best rock shows, they could surpass them. It was also an emphatic statement that the largely West Coast rap dignitaries knew how to throw a party. And there still isn’t another hip-hop song that matches the first 20 seconds of Dre’s “Next Episode” in concert.

Gross : $22.2 million from 44 shows

2. Raising Hell Tour (1986)

Run-DMC, featuring LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys and Whodini

There’s a reason Run-DMC is hailed as the greatest live hip-hop act of its era. They understood that less is always more. Because of their stripped-down beats and rhymes, the group amplified the genius of every aspect of their concert presentation up to 11. Jam Master Jay’s scratching was more thunderous than the other DJs on the 1s and 2s. Run’s pay-me stage presence commanded respect. And D had the throat-grabbing voice of God. They wore Godfather hats, black jeans and shoelace-less Adidas sneakers. The Hollis, Queens, crew was the personification of cool.

LL Cool J was just 18 during the Raising Hell Tour, but he was coming after Run-DMC’s crown every night. The hotel-wrecking Beastie Boys co-piloted rap’s bum-rush into Middle America, scaring parents wherever they landed. And Whodini brilliantly straddled the line between electro funkateers and around-the-way dudes representing BK to the fullest.

As “Walk This Way,” Run-DMC’s genre-shifting Aerosmith collaboration, exploded on the pop charts, vaulting the Raising Hell album to 3 million copies sold (the first hip-hop album to go triple platinum), ticket sales followed. The 45-city tour affirmed hip-hop’s cultural takeover.

Encore: The image of Joseph Simmons commanding 20,000-plus fans to hold up their sneakers during a performance of “My Adidas” at a New York show is still a surreal sight.

1. Fresh Fest (1984)

Kurtis Blow, Run-DMC, Whodini, The Fat Boys, Newcleus & the Dynamic Breakers, New York City Breakers, Turbo and Ozone

Ricky Walker had an idea: The concert promoter wanted to put together the first national rap music and break-dancing tour. In 1984, hip-hop had moved on from its underground beginnings in the Bronx. Run-DMC had just dropped their self-titled debut, and their “ Rock Box ” became the first rap video to received play on MTV. Breakin’ , the first break dancing movie to hit the big screen, pulled in nearly $40 million at the box office on a minuscule $1.2 million budget. Walker saw the future.

He called New York impresario Simmons to tap some of his Rush Productions talent, which included heartthrob Brooklyn trio Whodini , rap’s first solo superstar Kurtis Blow, the comedic Fat Boys and, of course, the hottest hip-hop act in the country, Run-DMC. But when it came time to promote the first show, billed as the Swatch Watch NYC Fresh Fest Festival , in Greensboro, North Carolina, Walker was laughed out of the room by a radio ad man.

Rap was still viewed by many record industry power brokers as a passing fad. In a 1985 interview with Billboard magazine, Walker recalled the salesperson pleading with him. “You’re a friend of mine,” he said. “Can’t I talk you out of doing this show?”

Walker’s instincts, however, proved to be dead-on. Fresh Fest moved 7,500 tickets in four hours. The tour, which also featured some of the best street dancers on the planet, such as Breakin’ stars Boogaloo Shrimp and Shabba Doo, as well as the synth funk-rap group Newcleus, not only did brisk business at mid-level venues but also sold out 20,000-seat arenas in Chicago and Philadelphia. Like the pioneering rock ‘n’ roll shows of the ’50s conceived by Cleveland radio DJ Alan Freed, the Fresh Fest proved that rap could be a serious and profitable art form. The rest is hip-hop history.

Gross : $3.5 million

Keith "Murph" Murphy is a senior editor at VIBE Magazine and frequent contributor at Billboard, AOL, and CBS Local. The veteran journalist has appeared on CNN, FOX News and A&E Biography and is also the author of the men’s lifestyle book "Manifest XO."

BlackPast is dedicated to providing a global audience with reliable and accurate information on the history of African America and of people of African ancestry around the world. We aim to promote greater understanding through this knowledge to generate constructive change in our society.

Salt-n-pepa (1985- ).

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The Hip Hop group, Salt-N-Pepa was formed in Queens, New York in 1985. Queens native Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Brooklyn native Cheryl “Salt” James met while attending Queensborough Community College and became close friends. They both began working at Sears merchandising, and met fellow co-worker Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor, who was studying record production. Azor asked the duo, who went by the name Super Nature, to record a song for his class project, which resulted in the “The Showstoppa,” an answer record to “The Show” by rapper Doug E. Fresh. DJ Latoya Hanson joined and rounded out the trio, and the single was officially released as “The Show Stoppa (Is Stupid Fresh)” by Pop Art Records, an independent label. The trio landed a recording contract with Next Plateau Records, and their first studio album, Hot, Cool & Vicious was released in December 1986.

The group changed their name to Salt-N-Pepa as they became the first all-female rap group to enter the music industry. In 1987 DJ Hanson left and Diedra Roper, DJ Spinderella joined the group. The remix of the single “Push It” led the group to be the first female rap act to achieve gold and platinum status in the United States because the album it was on sold over one million copies worldwide. Their second album A Salt with a Deadly Pepa was released in 1988, which included the top 10 R&B hit song “Shake Your Thang,” a collaboration with go-go band E.U. The album was certified gold after selling over 800,000 copies internationally.

Salt-N-Pepa’s third studio album, Blacks’ Magic, was released in 1990 by London Records. The single, “Let’s Talk About Sex,” also achieved international success and sold over one million copies.  The trio released a greatest hits album entitled, A Blitz of Salt-N-Pepa Hits: The Hits Remixed in the same year and their fourth album, Very Necessary , was released in 1993.  It became multi-platinum after selling over seven million copies worldwide and over five million in the U.S. The single, “None Of Your Business,” won the trio their first Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo of Group, making them the first all-female rap group to win the coveted award.

Their fifth and final album together, Brand New , was released in 1997 under Red Ant Records, after they were offered a $15 million dollar signing bonus. The album was certified gold (selling over 500,000 copies), giving the group an unbroken string of gold and platinum albums throughout their twelve year career. The group disbanded but reunited in 2006 for the VH1 Hip Hop Honors program.

The Salt-N-Pepa Show , a reality tv show debuted on VH1 in 2007 and lasted for two seasons. The trio began to tour with other 1990’s groups in 2009. They received the “I Am Hip Hop” Award at the BET Hip Hop Awards in 2010, and in 2014, were featured in a Geico insurance commercial performing their hit song “Push It.” In 2019, Dj Spinderella announced that she had been “Terminated” from the group via an Instagram post. DJ Cocoa Chanelle, became her replacement. On January 23, 2021, a biopic named after the trio was released on the Lifetime network. Original members Cheryl James and Sandra Denton continue to tour with their new DJ.

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Bruce R. Miller, “New Lifetime movie gets to the heart of hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa,” Stltoday.com, January 22, 2021, https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/movies/new-lifetime-movie-gets-to-the-heart-of-hip-hop-group-salt-n-pepa/article_430b22c6-f815-51e3-9c10-8576cf085fa0.html ; Jasmine Washington, “DJ Spinderalla Announces ‘Termination’ From Salt-N-Pepa,” Ebony.com , May 3, 2019, https://www.ebony.com/entertainment/dj-spinderella-announces-termination-from-salt-n-pepa/ ;

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Hailing from Queens, New York, USA, Salt-N-Pepa are a legendary Hip-Hop trio consisting of rappers Cheryl James (Salt) and Sandra Denton (Pepa), backed up by Deidra Roper as their turntablist DJ Spinderella.

Salt-N-Pepa are trailblazers, pure and simple. Arriving at a time when hip-hop was considered a fad and would be finished by the end of the 1980’s, they were a huge part of the genre’s legitimization in the public eye and would go on to have the biggest selling album by a female rap act with their fourth effort “Very Necessary” and also be the first female winners of a Grammy award in a rap category for their single “None Of Your Business”.

James and Denton formed the group as a duo initially, debuting in 1985 with the single “The Showstopper” under the name Super Nature. The single was discovered by Pop Art Records and became a hit on the R&B charts. From the start the duo set about tearing down the standards and stereotypes of how women in Hip-Hop should be, owning their sexuality and empowering themselves through it long before anyone else thought to.

“The Showstopper” garnered the interest of label Next Plateau Records, who signed them for an album release. It was then that the duo became a trio, with Roper joining the group full time as their DJ, and the album followed soon after, entitled “Hot, Cool & Vicious”. It was a modest success initially, with some charting R&B hits in the form of “Tramp” and “Chick On The Side” among others. And then “Push It” happened.

A San Francisco based DJ called Cameron Paul created a remix to the song, the B-side of “Tramp”, and their rise after that was stratospheric. A monster hit on both sides of the Atlantic, the trio were now legitimate pop stars despite James and Denton being barely into their twenties and Roper being a mere 16. However, their star was only going to rise with time.

To this day, the vast majority of female rappers around owe a certain debt to Salt-N-Pepa. They followed up with even bigger hits like “Let’s Talk About Sex” and “Whatta Man”, they won Grammy’s, had platinum albums and singles. They were one of the key acts that legitimised female rappers and they can still rock it live to this day. They’re legends, but you knew that much already, right?

Live reviews

If you are looking to see a classic old school rap show it doesn't get any better than Salt-n-Pepa. No one can quite rile up a crowd like this relentlessly aggressive trio. DJ Spinderella is still pumping out those irresistible dance beats and Cheryl and Sandra spit the rhyme and meter as if it was the only thing they new how to do. However they prove they can do much more than just rap. On their 2014 tour they are constantly engaging the crowd in banter getting them to throw up their hands, yell, dance and sing along. The whole crowd was in an absolute uproar. Also if you go to one of their shows prepare for them to breakout some of their classic 80s dance moves. When they are not busy shooting off a verse they are kicking it free-style moving spontaneously with the beats. And in most occasions they are performing a meticulously choreographed routine with two backup dancers.

DJ Spinderella kept the show flowing: delivering excellent stage talk, building anticipation for the show, mixing tracks together while revving up the audience and providing commentary on the songs they performed live. During there classic track "Whatta Man" they even invited two members from the audience on the stage to dance along to the song. This is just some of the antics that goes on at their shows. On this tour they wowed thousands at outdoor festivals such as Summer Jam and played intimate setting with a backing curtain, mirror ball and soft lights. They seem to thrive an any environment. Wherever you see them, know there is no rap show that will flavor your evening quite like Salt-n-Pepa.

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I went to see Salt N Pepa live in Liverpool in October 2017.

At the beginning of the night I was given the option of buying a T-shirt so I could dance on stage with this amazing trio. Salt, Pepa and Spinderella.

I've followed Salt N Pepa since 1988 - the first album I bought of theirs was Salt With A Deadly Pepa at Asda in Rhyl, I later got their earlier album Hot, Cool and Vicious as it wasn't well released over in the UK.

It's very rare we see Salt N Pepa in the UK and so I was so excited and also the chance to get on stage and dance with them.

It was an amazing experience. I got on stage, danced with them and even sang along to Whatta Man with them. They were so nice and friendly and it was an amazing evening. At the end of the song Pepa even told the entire crowd to give it up for me as I'd been singing along in her ear to the song - I was just like WOW!!! OMG!!!

I'd never have believed I would ever meet Salt N Pepa, never mind actually having the chance to dance with them on stage. It was such an amazing night, after that I returned to my seat and enjoyed the rest of the performance waving my banner which said "Salt N Pepa are Hot Cool and Vicious" - a reference to their first album!

I've seen a number of artists in the past but never actually got to meet any of them before and I was so happy and amazed that I got to meet these two ladies who despite the fame still are down to earth and respectful of their fans. Absolute female rap legends - and the whole night of hip hop was something else too but S-n-P were the icing on the cake!

I saw Salt and Pepa last night Friday 9th August at the Indigo at the O2. I've been waiting years to see them so , like the rest of the audience, was excited to see them perform.

The disappointing part is that they came on at 9.35pm & left the stage 50 mins later!!!

In those 50 minutes the dj played a load of old skool tunes which were great but wasted time.

( The dj would have been better as the warm up as the warm up were not great and not for our audience)

Then 1 of the 4 dancers came on and did a Michael Jackson dance. What the hell did that have to do with anything!?? Any few minutes wasted!

So ol' Salt n Papa were actually only singing for about 40 minutes! Everyone stood there paused at the end waiting for an encore only for pepa to say Sorry the O2 has a curfew!

WELL COME ON STAGE EARLIER!!

I also thought id been double conned and that it wasn't Pepa but apparently she's had loads of surgery!

The Positive was that they sung the hits let's talk about sex, push it, shoop, whattaman. (Even 1 of those songs they didn't sing it all!) Shame

Glad I've seen them after all those years but won't ever go again.

Who doesn't love a dose of 90's nostalgia in the form of female led R & B and hip hop? Salt-N-Pepa otherwise known as the artists Cheryl James, Sandra Denton and Deidra Roper have been performing as a collective since the mid-80s and as you can imagine have a wonderful onstage demeanour as a group.

They really know how to pass on these good vibes to the audience and surpass any of their male counterparts when it comes to hyping an audience in time for their classic tracks such as 'Push It'. They know these songs are considered jovial and they do not perform them too seriously, instead they are just as fun as you would imagine. The 90's R & B vibes are fantastic during 'Let's Talk About Sex' as the girls vocally harmonise like complete professionals. The vibes remain positive and free all night and the girls seem to be having as much fun onstage as the fans do watching. They conduct one final singalong to 'Express Yourself' before taking their bows to deafening cheers.

Salt-N-Pepa are the quintessential old school rap and hip hop trio from Queens, New York. They encompass all things hip hop, and have been doing so since they shimmied their way on to the music scene in the late 80s. Cheryl James, Sandra Denton and Deidra Rope have great on stage chemistry, the result of decades as a group together, and they bring this chemistry with them every day, for every song. Their gig is a fantastically nostalgic experience, crammed full of old school 80s and 90s R&B and hip hop gems that have the whole audience dancing on their feet and signing along in full force. The girls’ continuing popularity is proof that hip hop is far from dead: their gig was packed out and the audience was wild with enthusiasm and excitement. The girls had a brilliant rapport with the crowd, thanking their fans and reminding us all of the good old days. They started the party with ‘Let’s Talk about Sex’ and ended with classic ‘Whatta Man’.

I saw Salt-N-Pepa in concert in Boise and although I never saw them live back in the 80s/90s, they put on an amazing show and you can tell they really appreciate their fans! They are just as beautiful and talented as ever! If you have ever liked/loved their music - make sure you go see them live at least once! I can't wait for them to come back to Boise!

Hey my wife and I went to the freestyle concert at the Greek Saturday night and it was awesome we seen all of our favorite singers but salt and pepa were awesome but they didn't sing my favorite None of your business that's okay it was still a great show can't wait to see them again

Wonderful, wonderful show!! Lots of energy, the ladies were beautiful, they sounded great!! All the other artists did an amazing job as well -- Young MC, All 4 One, Coolio, Kid n Play, Rob Base & Color Me Bad.

Concert was GREAT, was punctual, nice to see a very diverse crowd with NO ISSUES NOR DRAMA!! The line up was nicely put together, looking fwd to the next one, really enjoyed it! !!!!!!

Salt n pepa were amazing - great showwomen! The concert slowed down when others did a Tupac tribute but other than that, a great hip hop flashback and trip down memory lane!

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• Las Vegas (51)
• Los Angeles (LA) (22)
• Chicago (16)
• Philadelphia (16)
• New York (NYC) (12)

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• Naughty By Nature (103)
• Coolio (101)
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Hot, Cool & Vicious

A Salt With A Deadly

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Very Necessary

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90s duo Salt-N-Pepa serve up a sweet new beat inspired by Grandma’s Cookies

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By Audrey Kemp, LA Reporter

April 24, 2024 | 3 min read

Listen to article 4 min

The iconic hip-hop duo, now grandmas themselves, trade in their mics for mixing bowls in their latest track, ‘Grandma’s Got Treats.’

Grandma’s Cookies, a 110-year-old brand owned by PepsiCo, is debuting a fresh look and campaign.

To celebrate the news, the brand enlisted the help of 90s hip-hop heroines Salt-N-Pepa to record a new song and launched a social media treasure hunt, offering fans a chance to win $10,000.

A remix of the classic nursery rhyme ‘Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar,’ Salt-N-Pepa’s new track, ‘Grandma’s Got Treats,’ is nothing short of hilarious, featuring lyrics like “She cookin’ real good with her apron tied.”

It’s a far cry from their classic hits like ‘Shoop’ and ‘Push It,’ but somehow, it works.

Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton commented on the project: “As a grandma myself, it was a no-brainer to partner with Grandma’s because the brand is showing off a fresh, modern take on what it means to be the matriarch. We had a blast creating the remix and got to pack the new verses with personality. I can’t wait for fans to experience our rendition.”

To make things even sweeter, Grandma’s Cookies is treating consumers to weeks of exclusive content and epic prizes. From now through June 19, fans will have the chance to win weekly goodies from Grandma’s cookie jar, including a grand prize of $10,000.

To take part, participants must follow the brand’s Instagram (@grandmascookies), look for hidden cookie jars throughout the brand’s feed and comment on the location of the cookie jar in each post.

“We’re excited to work with Grandma’s Cookies on this campaign because it’s all about embracing a bold, bright attitude while enjoying some treats along the way,” added Cheryl ‘Salt’ James. “We’ve been baking up hits in the studio for over 35 years and our latest remix with Grandma’s is another delicious hit.”

The campaign was developed in partnership with the creative agency Motive.

Interested in creative campaigns? Check out our Ad of the Day section and sign up for our Ads of the Week newsletter so you don’t miss a story.

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Salt‐N‐Pepa Setlist at Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA, USA

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Salt‐N‐Pepa Gig Timeline

• Jul 15 1988 Miami Arena Miami, FL, USA Add time Add time
• Aug 13 1988 Capital Centre Landover, MD, USA Add time Add time
• Aug 14 1988 Spectrum This Setlist Philadelphia, PA, USA Add time Add time
• Oct 06 1988 Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center Oakland, CA, USA Add time Add time
• Nov 26 1988 London Astoria London, England Add time Add time

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