A Salt with a Deadly Pepa

Salt-N-Pepa entered hip-hop responding to Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick’s runaway hit (“The Showstopper” answered “The Show”) and initially carried themselves like a female Run-DMC. The girls promoted their sophomore album, A Salt with a Deadly Pepa, rocking ripped stonewashed jeans, baggy T-shirts and cable-thick gold chains with doorknocker earrings — a tomboy style that echoed their audience’s. Their rap reworking of the Isley Brothers’ “It’s Your Thing” flaunted sass with hints of sexuality, like most of this Hurby Luv Bug-produced album. With Kid ’N Play, Heavy D and Salt-N-Pepa, the culture started carving out room for more middle-class images in hip-hop.