Salt-N-Pepa Inducted Into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
“Cheryl and Deidra entered a predominantly male genre and carved out space for women — stylistically, commercially, lyrically. Their songs addressed issues of female empowerment, sexuality, safe sex, dance-culture, and more — widening what rap could discuss.”
Salt-N-Pepa were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on November 8, 2025, as part of the 2025 induction class. The pioneering hip-hop group made history as the first female rap group to receive this honor. During their acceptance speech, they highlighted the ongoing fight for artists' rights, specifically calling out "the industry" for taking their music down from streaming platforms due to their masters dispute. The group was part of the 2025 induction class, which also included acts like Outkast, Cyndi Lauper, and the White Stripes.
The induction is a major recognition of the group's influence on music and their pioneering role as women in hip-hop. DJ Spinderella, officially made history as the first female DJ inducted. And Missy Elliott, who was inducted in a previous year, presented them with their award. During their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech, Salt-N-Pepa discussed their ongoing fight to regain control of their master recordings from Universal Music Group. Cheryl "Salt" James stated that their music has been removed from streaming platforms and that the industry does not "want to play fair". The duo emphasized that despite this struggle, they remain unafraid of a fight, using their platform to honor creativity and demand fairness from the music industry,
At the ceremony, they performed hits like "Push It" and "Shoop". They emerged in the mid-1980s and became one of the first all-female hip-hop groups to achieve major commercial success — crossing over into pop, R&B and mainstream culture. Some of their best-known hits include “Push It”, “Shoop”, “Let’s Talk About Sex”, and “Whatta Man”. Their debut album, Hot, Cool & Vicious (1986) made them the first female rap act to be certified Gold and Platinum in the U.S. by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).They later released Very Necessary (1993), which became the highest-selling rap album by a female act at that time. They won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1995 for “None of Your Business”, making them the first female rap group to take home a Grammy in that category. They entered a predominantly male genre and carved out space for women — stylistically, commercially, lyrically. Their songs addressed issues of female empowerment, sexuality, safe sex, dance-culture, and more — widening what rap could discuss.
The commercial success they achieved helped redefine industry assumptions about female-led rap acts (both group and solo). While they are sometimes referred to as the first female hip-hop trio inducted into the Hall of Fame, the official Hall of Fame language cites them as “the first major all-female rap group to go both gold and platinum, and the first to win a Grammy” in the rap category, and now Hall inductees. “Trios” and “female hip-hop groups” have varied definitions; the emphasis is on their pioneering commercial/award/hall-of-fame benchmarks rather than simply being the first ever in all categories.
