TAKE TWO: SALT-N-PEPA

Back in the early days of hip-hop and rap, it was dominated by male artists who regularly used ugly, sexist lyrics in their songs and commonly objectified women in their their music videos. But Salt-N-Pepa came along to combat that with positive messages in their music involving female empowerment and sexual liberation to become one of the first commercially successful all-female hip-hop acts.

While they were both attending nursing school in Queens, New York, Cheryl James and Sandra Denton met and became fast friends. They later met Hurby "Luv Bug” Azor who was studying music production and asked them to provide vocals for a class project. Calling themselves, “Super Nature” along with DJ Latoya Hanson, the track was called “The Showstopper”, an answer song to Doug E. Fresh’s 1985 single, “The Show”.  The record received enthusiastic response after some airplay at a local New York rap station and an indie record label, Pop Art Records released the song with it becoming a modest national hit.

This lead to the group being signed to Next Plateau Records and was renamed “Salt” (James) and “Pepa” (Denton). Hanson decided to leave the act and was replaced by Deidra Roper aka “DJ Spinderella” and the trio released their debut album, “Hot, Cool & Vicious” in 1986. With production by Azor who was now the group’s manager and dating James, the record had a few minor hits on the r&b chart but after some DJs in San Francisco remixed the B-side of the single, “Tramp”, “Push It” (featuring lyrics that were considered very risque at the time) became a smash hit reaching the top-ten around the globe with the exception of U.S. where it only reached number nineteen on the pop chart.  Salt-N-Pepa continued to have chart success with the singles, “Shake Your Thang”, “Expression” , “Do You Want Me” and “Let’s Talk About Sex” but it would be their fourth studio album that would take them to the next level.

For the first time, the ladies worked along with Azor to write and produce "Very Necessary" in 1993 and it paid off with three major hits; "Shoop", "Whatta Man" (which featured vocals by En Vogue) and "None of Your Business". The album went on to sell over seven million copies worldwide and the group won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance.

However, by the time of their follow-up release, "Brand New" in 1997,  James had ended her relationship with Azor and the group completely severed ties with him due to them feeling cheated out of royalty payments. The trio worked with other writers and produced the album largely by themselves yet it failed to generate much attention. Feeling burned out by the music business, "Salt" decided to leave the act in 2002 which seemed to bring an end to Salt-N-Pepa.

But some things weren't meant to last and after coming together to perform on VH-1’s Hip Hop Honors program in 2006, Salt-N-Pepa have officially reunited. Although they still have not recorded any new music, the trio have appeared on their own reality show in 2007 and continue to perform in several concerts and tours including being a part of a current world tour called “I Love The 90’s”.

Let’s see this legendary hip-hop act in action with some videos featuring two of my favorite tunes by Salt-N-Pepa:

2018 NATIONAL RECORDING REGISTRY

"My Girl", the classic Motown love song by the Temptations, has surprisingly just been added to the National Recording Registry this year. This number one tune, written by Smokey Robinson and his Miracles band mate, Ronald White back in 1964, is just one of twenty-five important recordings that will be preserved by the Library of Congress. A few other surprise additions that I thought would have already occurred are the beloved soundtrack to the 1965 Best Picture Oscar winner, "The Sound of Music";  the recording of a song most associated with singer, Tony Bennett, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" and "Rumours", one of the biggest selling albums of all-time by the rock band, Fleetwood Mac.

Since 2002, the Library of Congress have selected sound recordings that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important that informs or reflect life in the United States. The selections will feature a wide range of music, commentaries, radio programs, comedy albums and speeches. To date, there are now 500 recordings placed in the National Recording Registry.

Here is the complete list of the twenty-five recordings being inducted in the 2018 National Recording Registry:

“Dream Melody Intermezzo: Naughty Marietta” (single) - Victor Herbert and his Orchestra (1911)

Standing Rock Preservation Recordings - George Herzog and Members of the Yanktoni Tribe (1928)

“Lamento Borincano” (single) - Canario y Su Grupo (1930)

“Sitting on Top of the World” (single) - Mississippi Sheiks (1930)



"The Complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas" (album) - Artur Schnabel (1932-1935)

“If I Didn’t Care” (single) - The Ink Spots (1939)



Proceedings of the United Nations Conference on International Organization - (4/25/45-6/26/45)

“Folk Songs of the Hills” (album) - Merle Travis (1946)

“How I Got Over” (single) - Clara Ward and the Ward Singers (1950)



“(We’re Gonna) Rock Around the Clock” (single) - Bill Haley and His Comets (1954)



“Calypso” (album) - Harry Belafonte (1956)

“I Left My Heart in San Francisco” (single) - Tony Bennett (1962)



“King Biscuit Time” (radio) - Sonny Boy Williamson II and others (1965)

“My Girl” (single) - The Temptations (1964)

“The Sound of Music” (soundtrack) - Various Artists (1965)



“Alice’s Restaurant Massacree” (single) - Arlo Guthrie (1967)

“New Sounds in Electronic Music” (album) - Steve Reich, Richard Maxfield & Pauline Oliveros (1967)

“An Evening with Groucho” (album) - Groucho Marx (1972)

“Rumours” (album) - Fleetwood Mac (1977)

“The Gambler” (single) - Kenny Rogers (1978)



“Le Freak” (single) - Chic (1978)



“Footloose” (single) - Kenny Loggins (1984)



“Raising Hell” (album) - Run-DMC (1986)

“Rhythm Is Gonna Get You” (single) - Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine (1987)



“Yo-Yo Ma Premieres: Concertos for Violoncello and Orchestra” (album) - Various artists (1996)

25 SONGS THAT TELL US WHERE MUSIC IS GOING

With each generation, pop music has reflected the mood, attitude and spirit of the times while in the process, provide the perfect soundtrack to their memories. For their annual music issue, New York Times magazine has once again selected 25 songs they think best tell us where music is heading. These songs represent topics and sounds that ideally express the current state of the world and perhaps, shaping what's to come. Some of these tunes come from well-established artists (Katy Perry, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift) and cult figures (Lana Del Rey, Tracey Thorn, Perfume Genius) but most are emerging musicians who have already sparked interest (Camila Cabello, SZA, Cardi B) and those who are sure to eventually do so (Young Fathers, Big Shaq, DJ Taye). Their songs cover subjects that are hardly new: love and loss; success and failure; feminism and femininity; addiction and recovery. But they communicate their ideas in a way that is darker, gaudier and just plain weirder then people may be used to hearing, making these tunes all the more thrilling.

Here are a few of my favorites from the songs selected but click below to read the article:

25 Songs That Tell Us Where Music Is Going

FLOWER OF THE UNIVERSE

I can’t tell you how thrilled I was hearing the news that Sade was coming out with a new song. It is for the soundtrack of Ava DuVernay’s new fantasy adventure, “A Wrinkle in Time”. The director states that she simply just wrote a letter to the elusive vocalist asking if she might consider providing a song. Not expecting her to seriously accept the offer, DuVernay was pleasantly surprised when she agreed. And the wait is finally over as Sade’s track, “Flower of the Universe” has just been dropped. It has been over seven years since we last heard from the fifty-nine year old singer and her band which was with the release of the great, “Soldier of Love” back in 2010. This tender ballad was a true collaboration between the singer and the filmmaker that lead to some of the lyrics actually being used as dialogue in the movie. This is classic Sade and hopefully will lead to more new music.

DIRTY COMPUTER

When Janelle Monáe first came on the scene, not long in to the 21st century, she was clearly a unique presence with her music and image. Her offbeat sound was a blend of funk, glam rock and sci-fi electronica while her look of wearing a baby tuxedo and pompadour blurred the gender lines. She was literally and figuratively out-of-this-world which made her a very welcome visionary in the somber world of pop music. While some admired and appreciated Monáe's bold musical statement, she never received the proper attention by a mass audience that she truly deserved.

After deciding to expand herself creatively by turning to acting, Monáe found herself in two of the biggest films of 2016; she had a co-starring role in "Hidden Figures", a film about the African-American women that worked for NASA and helped get the first American in space, that became one of the major box-office hits of the year and had a supporting part in "Moonlight" which went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture.

All of this film work had put her music career on hold but now the singer is finally back with some new material. Monáe has her third album, "Dirty Computer" due out in April and has dropped a preview of two new songs. "Make Me Feel", co-written by Monáe with pop hit-makers, Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter, has a funky beat that is decidedly Prince inspired and it is rumored that the late Purple One was involved with some of the production on this album. I really love this track and I think this will be the long overdue pop hit for Monáe. The music video for the song features a blonde and unexpectedly sexy Monáe (along with a cameo by actress, Tessa Thompson who is currently seen in "Black Panther") and plays with her rumored sexual identity which neither confirms nor denies her attraction to both genders.



The other song, "Django Jane" has a completely different vibe with Monáe rapping about her previous success, female empowerment and letting the world know that she has arrived. This is powerful and clever track and I can't wait to hear more. I hope you'all are ready to be dominated by Janelle Monáe this year because I know I am.

2018 OSCAR NOMINEES FOR BEST ORIGINAL SONG

It has just been announced that all five of the Best Original Song nominees will be performed live on this year’s Oscars telecast and that will include appearances by the musicians who sang them in the films. So you will see first time nominee, Sufjan Stevens, the indie rocker who will perform his beautiful, “Mystery of Love” from one of my favorite films of last year, “Call Me By Your Name”. Another first time nominee is Mary J. Blige, a r&b veteran who will bring "Mighty River" to life on the show. In addition to the nomination for this song she co-wrote, Blige also received one for her impressive acting in the film, “Mudbound”. From the bio-pic, “Marshall”, Common, a previous Oscar winner for “Glory”, his song from the 2014 Martin Luther King drama, “Selma”, will appear with Andra Day to do “Stand Up For Something”, a song he co-wrote with Diane Warren, who has received her ninth Oscar nomination for Best Song yet still hasn’t taken home the prize. Keala Settle, a musical theater actress, had her first major film role in the sleeper hit, "The Greatest Showman" and will perform what I think is the best number from this original musical, "This Is Me" which was written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who won in this category last year for their work in "La La Land". And actor, Gael García Bernal, who sang the song in the film, and Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade, who recorded a pop version will all appear together to perform, "Remember Me" from the Disney animated film, "Coco" written by the team of Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez who took home the Oscar in 2014 for their big hit from "Frozen", "Let It Go".

This is a particularly strong year and any one of these songs would be a great selection but I'm leaning towards "Remember Me". This moving ballad was used quite effectively throughout "Coco" and even had me boo-hooing all through the ending. Here are all five nominees that you can listen to and judge for yourself:

“Mystery of Love”, Music and lyrics by Sufjan Stevens from "Call Me By Your Name"



“Remember Me”, Music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez from "Coco"



“This Is Me”, Music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul from "The Greatest Showman"



“Stand Up For Something”, Music by Diane Warren; lyrics by Lonnie R. Lynn and Diane Warren from "Marshall"



“Mighty River”, Music and lyrics by Mary J. Blige, Raphael Saadiq, and Taura Stinson from "Mudbound"

BLACK PANTHER: THE ALBUM

Unless you were living uncomfortably under a rock over this past weekend, then you must be aware that the Afrocentric super-hero movie, "Black Panther" had one of the biggest four-day openings in movie history with it accumulating domestically $242 million dollars. I saw it and it was fantastic but what I'm going to talk about here is the incredible soundtrack album for the film with director Ryan Coogler selecting one of the hottest and most inventive musical artists right now, Kendrick Lamar to curate the music. Originally, Lamar was only going to provide a few songs for the film but after viewing extensive footage, he wanted to become more involved in the creation of the music. The album features songs that are in "Black Panther" and were inspired by the movie and includes an interesting selection of contemporary hip-hop and r&b artists such as Schoolboy Q, 2 Chainz, Khalid, Vince Staples and Jorja Smith. There has been three singles released to date with Lamar teaming up with Jay Rock, Future and James Blake on "King's Dead", the Weeknd is featured on "Pray For Me" and my favorite has SZA providing a dazzling hook for him on "All The Stars".  While this collection works impressively on it own, it does the job by experimenting with sounds and textures, beautifully enhancing the rhythmic energy of this film.