Let's Talk About Pep, Baby

Last night Aaron and I attended the book launch party for Sandy "Pepa" Denton's memoir of her life in Salt-N-Pepa, the five-time Grammy winning rap trio that rocked the airwaves and dancefloors of the world beginning in 1985, selling over 13 million albums along the way. As you can see, both Sandy (Pepa ) and Cheryl James (Salt) look fantastic all these years later. (Deidra "Spinderella" Roper was not in attendance.) They were totally charming and kind and I even got to tell them that the gold record for Push It hung on the wall of my office in Miami.

Last night's event doubled as a fundraiser for LIFEBeat, the music industry's HIV/AIDS activism group, and a cause that Salt-N-Pepa strongly supported throughout their career. In 1991, their smash single Let's Talk About Sex was one of the first pop songs that explicitly referenced safer sex. An alternate version, Let's Talk About AIDS, was released to radio stations and was included as a b-side to the single.

Pepa's memoir, Let's Talk About Pep, featuring an introduction from Queen Latifah and an epilogue from Missy Elliot, is now available on Amazon and at booksellers nationwide. And as a peppery Swag Wednesday giftie, I have an autographed copy to give away. Comment on this post to enter and remember to leave an email address you check frequently.