UB Celebrates: 35th Anniversary of Salt-N-Pepa’s ‘Blacks Magic’

Rap pioneers Salt-N-Pepa released their groundbreaking third album “Blacks Magic,” 35 years ago today on March 19th, 1990 via Next Plateau.

The ladies of Salt-N-Pepa; Cheryl James and Sandy Denton (“Salt” and “Pepa”) and Deidre “Dee Dee” Roper (DJ Spinderella) debuted with “The Show Stopper“, a response record to Doug E. Fresh & Slick Rick‘s “The Show.”

It was an underground hit and Salt-N-Pepa signed to Next Plateau Records.

Their debut album “Hot, Cool & Vicious” was released in 1986, which was produced by Salt‘s then-boyfriend, Hurby Azor, the group’s manager at the time.

“Hot, Cool & Vicious” received little attention until a San Francisco DJ named Cameron Paul created a remix of “Push It” (The b-side to “Tramp”). Mr. Paul‘s remix of “Push It“, re-released as a single, quickly became a national hit and was nominated for a Grammy, pushing both the single and album to Platinum album status.

They released “A Salt With a Deadly Pepa,” which featured “Shake Your Thang” feat. E.U.

However it was their third album, the platinum plus “Black’s Magic,” which expanded Salt-N-Pepa‘s fanbase among hip hop fans influencing more R&B. It was also the first album to feature Spinderella on vocals and DJ’ing.

On such songs as “Independent,” labelmate Sybil provided vocals.

Prior to the release of their third album, Salt-N-Pepa were viewed as little more than pop crossover artists.

Most of their singles had been rap remakes of old R&B songs, like “Shake Your Thang” and “Twist and Shout,” not to mention they hadn’t even rapped all that much on their biggest hit “Push It.”

For “Black’s Magic” Salt took control of the music and produced several of the songs.

The first single was “Expression,” went platinum and spent eight weeks at the top of the rap charts. That single was followed by the gold “Do You Want Me.”

Another single from the album, “Let’s Talk About Sex” became their biggest pop hit, climbing to #3. They later re-recorded “Let’s Talk About Sex” as a safe-sex rap PSA, “Let’s Talk About AIDS.”

“Black’s Magic” was embraced strongly by the hip-hop community.

“Black’s Magic” is where Salt-N-Pepa came into their own! With Salt producing four tracks and Spinderella produced one.

It wasn’t that their crossover appeal diminished, but this time they worked from a funkier R&B base that brought them more credibility among Hip-Hop and urban audiences.

With influences of Jimi Hendrix and Billie Holiday in the mix and cover art.

More importantly, they displayed a stronger group identity than ever before, projecting a mix of sassy, self-confident feminism and aggressive – but responsible; sexuality.

The album summed up the new attitude of S-N-P.

But there was more to the album than just the singles.

Track by Track, “Black’s Magic” was the strongest record Salt-N-Pepa had ever released.

They addressed the copy cats, which had came along since the success of “Push It” in the “Expression” visual with the line; will the real Salt-N-Pepa please stand.”

Other hard topics included verses about self-esteem, predatory males and loveless relationships.

“A Blitz of Salt-N-Pepa Hits” was released in November of 1990. Remixes of songs from the first three albums. The album went platinum in Canada.

“Black’s Magic” successfully remade Salt-N-Pepa as their own women and pointed the way to the even more commercially successful R&B/Pop/Hip Hop follow-up “Very Necessary.”

Take a Trip Down Memory Lane and Celebrate the 35th Anniversary of “Black’s Magic.”