Salt-N-Pepa Makes History With Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction

Salt-N-Pepa will receive the Musical Influence Award at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony on Nov. 8 at LA's Peacock Theater. 

The pioneering rap stars plan to reunite with DJ Spinderella for a special performance, streaming live on Disney+. 

"I don't want to give it away, but we have been having creative calls with choreographers, with people at the Rock Hall, with the music people, and it's been really fun figuring it out," Cheryl "Salt" James said, according to Billboard. 

After years apart, the group has mended fences with DJ Spinderella, who joined in '86 but split in 2019. "We have reconciled. We're good. We've had hard conversations. We've cleared up misunderstandings," James said. 

This award marks a peak for the NYC trio who burst onto the scene in 1985. They shattered records as women in rap, with their first album, Hot, Cool & Vicious, striking both gold and platinum — a first for female rappers. 

The group made waves in '95 when they and Queen Latifah became the first women in rap to win GRAMMYs. Their hit "None of Your Business" took the prize, while their album Very Necessary went four-times platinum, powered by smash hits "Shoop" and "Whatta Man." 

"I feel like we've gotten all the things now," James said. "We have our Walk of Fame, our Lifetime Achievement Award from the GRAMMYs, every award in-between, from MTV to you name it. So this is the last big one." 

James credits their success to staying true. "We say we brought fun, fashion, and femininity to hip-hop. We weren't afraid to be feminine; the men were being pretty hardcore, but we were just some round-the-way chicks that other girls related to, and it just took off," she said. 

The 8 p.m. EST ceremony marks the first time any female rap group has earned the Musical Influence Award — adding another first to their storied legacy.