4. Salt N Pepa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCadcBR95oU Salt N Pepa are a highly successful Hip Hop trio consisting of Cheryl James (Salt) and Sandra Denton (Pepa) as well as Deidra Roper (DJ Spinderella. They were one of the first all female rap crews. Their break out album was titled A Salt With A Deadly Pepa which provided the group with several hits including the massively successful Push It, Shake Your Thang and Twist and Shout. Their next album Blacks' Magic included another very famous song - Let's Talk About Sex in 1990. After that there was Very Necessary which featured a joint song with En Vogue entitled Whatta Man - a top ten hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The album sold 7 million copies making the group the first female rap group/solo artist to have a platinum multi million selling album. The following album - Brand New was wracked by record label bankruptcy meaning that it didn't receive the publicity or promotion it was due. It still managed to go gold in the States but it must have been a bitter blow after the success of Very Necessary. A Best Of album was released in 2000 but the group disbanded in 2003 to go and do their own thing. They have since reformed and a VH1 reality show called The Salt N Pepa Show chronicled the band coming to terms with past issues and get back into the Recording Studio. Salt N Pepa were one of the first female rap acts to be taken seriously and they didn't have to sell their music on the basis of slutty songs as so many female rap artists have to. Neither did they do the whole gangster's molls thing. They were credible as rappers and they deserved their success.