Salt-N-Pepa, back as stars, see little change for women

 Salt-N-Pepa pioneered a role for women in hip-hop with a string of sultry dance-floor hits in the 1980s and ‘90s.

A couple decades on, the three-member group is enjoying renewed success on the nostalgia circuit — and still sees a double standard for women.
 The trio is opening an extensive tour on Friday aimed at fans eager to relive the 1990s.
 Although the group will play mostly second-tier markets, promoters hope its total ticket haul will rival those of major contemporary acts.
 Led by rappers Cheryl James, or Salt, and Sandra Denton, or Pepa, with DJ Spinderella on the turntable, Salt-N-Pepa broke into the US mainstream at a time when much of white America looked at hip-hop with suspicion, seeing it as a passing fad rooted in street culture.
 The New York-bred musicians not only helped break hip-hop’s gender barrier but offered a subtle sense of female empowerment, rapping openly and without vulgarity about women’s desires on tracks such as “Let’s Talk About Sex” and “Shake Your Thang.” A couple decades on, however, the rappers see little change since their heyday in music or society, saying women still face too much judgment for their sexuality.