Salt-n-Pepa

The first female rap group to really blow up on a national scale, Salt-n-Pepa exploded on the scene with their classic 1986 debut. Hot, Cool & Vicious is full of thick, old school beats, raw rhymes, and deft scratching from DJ Spinderella. Features their breakout hit "Push It (Remix)" as well as "Tramp" and the Doug E. Fresh dis track "The Showstopper."

In the updated "Tramp" (former A side of "Push It," bargain hunters), two gals dis an easy lay cum slave to his dick, but elsewhere the raps are only the gender change you'd hope, not the one you couldn't have imagined--feisty, not too reverse-macho, yet fairly predictable. What I love is how the sampled hooks and not-so-predictable scratches pounce out of the mix, always good for a shiver of recognition/dissociation. And the change is certainly due. (Grade - A-)