Roxanne Shante's career took off immediately after answering U.T.F.O.'s gargantuan hit "Roxanne Roxanne" the year before. Producer Hurby Luv Bug had a similar idea for his new group Super Nature, a duo of young ladies that he was grooming to be rappers, named after one of his favorite songs by Cerrone.

That idea, "The Show Stoppa" (an answer to Doug E Fresh & Slick Rick's "The Show") got Hip-Hop's attention.

"I originally wanted to answer another record before 'The Show,' and I can’t remember what it was," he told ROCK THE BELLS. "I couldn’t find any girls. There weren’t many girls who rapped and I didn’t know any, so I had to make them! Marley will tell you that Shanté wasn’t a rapper, she was a girl who rhymed because she could, but that’s not what she tried to be. It was the same with Salt-N-Pepa."

Producer Ron Lawrence, who is a friend and musical associate of Hurby's, explained to ROCK THE BELLS that he always wanted to put a female rap group together. "Hurby was determined to create a female Rap group, and then he met Salt and Pepa, who he worked with at Sears, and that was it."

The success of Super Nature's debut hit, "The Show Stoppa" on independent Philadelphia label Pop Art led to a deal with Next Plateau Records and a name change to Salt-N-Pepa. Hurby explained that the name "Salt-N-Pepa" came from a first-generation rap act called The Fantastic 5.

"A cat named Prince from my group The Super Lovers was from the Bronx and he knew Whipper Whip from The Fantastic 5, and he went to their shows" he remembered. "When he did his mic check he would always say 'my mic sounds nice' and I asked where he got that from and he told me about the Fantastic 5 and how Whipper Whip and Dota Rock called themselves The Salt and Pepper M.C.’s." Salt N Pepa's first single on Next Plateau was 1986's "I'll Take Your Man". The aggressive vocal delivery and Go-Go infused track was a huge hit for Salt N Pepa and caused a great demand for a full-length album which was delivered later in '86.

Hot, Cool, & Vicious was everything that Hip-Hop wanted from a full-length Salt N Pepa project. From the energy of "Beauty & The Beat" which was a dedication to their DJ, Spinderella, to the reggae-influenced slow-tempo banger "It's Alright," Hot, Cool & Vicious was the official announcement that a female Hip-Hop group had arrived that could crash the '86 rap industry's all boys party.

"Tramp" was an update to the 1967 hit by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas and it was also Salt-N-Pepa's first music video. "Push It," which did not originally appear on the album, but was included in later pressings, had become a signature song for the group. First appearing on the compilation, The House That Rap Built, the single, co-produced by Brooklyn's Fresh Gordon became the group's first crossover song, bringing them into American living rooms by way of an iconic music video.

The uptempo "I Desire" and the Pointer Sisters inspired "Chick On The Side" complete one of the group's most revered albums which has aged incredibly well over three decades.