Hip hop went from being feared as society’s downfall to dominating mainstream tradition.
Salt worries content material has grow to be too express, needs steadiness and illustration of girls’s numerous skills.
She encourages ladies to rejoice their intelligence, innovation and spirit, not simply bodily attributes.
On the BET Awards 2026, Salt of the legendary Salt-N-Pepa pulled up and gave us one of many realest conversations of the evening. The icon spoke brazenly a few tradition she helped construct—the place it began, how far it has traveled, and the place she hopes it goes subsequent. It was sincere, celebratory, and rooted in a long time of lived expertise.
50 Years of Hip Hop—and the Individuals Who Doubted It
Few artists can converse to hip hop’s journey like Salt. She remembers a time when the style was handled like an issue as an alternative of a motion.
“I keep in mind once they had been saying hip hop was going to be the top of society,” she stated. She additionally pointed again to one of many period’s defining battles. “Do you not keep in mind when Tipper Gore… she was like, it’s a must to put express stickers on all issues hip hop as a result of it’s going to destroy this nation.”
Half a century later, these fears look virtually laughable. What was as soon as dismissed turned one of the crucial highly effective cultural forces on this planet.
From “The Finish of Society” to the Middle of Every little thing
The identical style critics warned about now drives the tradition in each course.
“Now you may’t activate TV with out a business that includes hip hop,” Salt famous. “It’s in each sport. They even use it to promote garments, any merchandise. If it doesn’t have hip hop, they suppose it’s not going to promote.”
From vogue to music to meals to podcasts, hip hop touches all of it. What folks as soon as feared would destroy youngsters is now the soundtrack of the mainstream—proof of the style’s endurance and the neighborhood that carried it.
A Name for Stability and Extra Voices
Salt celebrates the wins, however she’s additionally sincere about her issues. She feels the content material has drifted.
“It has gone somewhat left, content material is anxious,” she stated. “It may swing to the center somewhat.”
She remembers when the tradition made room for a lot of varieties of girls. “Once we had been developing, it was such a various quantity of voices.” She pointed to her personal group bringing “vogue and femininity to hip hop,” to Lil’ Kim’s daring sexuality, to Queen Latifah as “the queen, the innovator,” and to Lauryn Hill as “the consciousness.”
Her message isn’t about silencing anybody. It’s about house. “There’s lots of ladies on the market that need to be placed on, need to be celebrated, which have a various quantity of issues to say.”
The Social Media Strain to Go Additional
Salt got here up in a technology that understood restraint. “You walked as much as the road, however you didn’t essentially need to step over it,” she stated.
At this time, she sees a distinct pull. Whereas she’s cautious to not blame social media for all the pieces, she acknowledges its affect. “I virtually really feel like now it’s how far can I’m going in order that I both get extra likes, extra spins, extra consideration. At what level do we are saying an excessive amount of is an excessive amount of?”
It’s a good query—and one lots of longtime followers have been asking too.
A Actual Fear for Younger Girls
For Salt, this dialog goes past music. It’s in regards to the younger ladies watching and listening.
“In case your function fashions are primarily speaking about how they give the impression of being and what they’ve between their legs, then that turns into an imprint in your worth as a girl as you develop up,” she stated.
Her hope is easy and highly effective. “I would really like us to rejoice our intelligence, our approach of being revolutionary, our spirit, our hearts—what now we have to supply beside what’s in between our legs.”
The Misplaced Artwork of Romance
Salt additionally mourns one thing the music used to hold: connection.
“Again within the day… even when it was hip hop, it was about romancing,” she stated. “And now it’s like, how shortly can we get to it?”
She spoke to the deeper price of that shift. “Everyone knows that once we’re sharing our bodies and spirits and all of that, how do you simply hold transferring on?” For her, the music has grow to be “saturated with supplies,” and that lack of intimacy is actual.
‘Salty and Lit’: Music With a Message
That reflection flows proper into her new venture. The album is known as “Salty and Lit,” and the title carries that means.
“It’s a play on the verse in Matthew that claims we’re salt and lightweight, and that we should always by no means come underneath a bowl. We should always put it on a stand for the world to see,” she defined.
It’s faith-rooted however not what you would possibly count on. “It’s not a gospel album, however I’ve been down with Jesus,” she stated with a smile. “It’s simply me encouraging ladies.”
One standout is “Overcomers,” a collaboration with Erica Campbell. The tune celebrates a technology of girls who’re nonetheless very a lot of their energy. “It’s simply celebrating us as grown Gen X and older millennials,” Salt stated. “We nonetheless obtained it.”
Again on the Highway
Followers received’t have to attend lengthy to really feel that vitality reside. Salt-N-Pepa are hitting the street with TLC and En Vogue.
“Beginning mid-August,” she confirmed—a powerhouse lineup of girls who formed the sound of a technology, coming collectively to rejoice it.
Shine On
What stood out most was Salt’s perception that an artist’s story is supposed to maintain evolving—and to raise others alongside the best way.
“It’s the evolution of the place you begin, and all the pieces goes in a circle,” she mirrored. “It’s necessary to then flip round and present folks there are different methods to do issues. You don’t at all times need to do it a method.”
Her closing thought stated all of it: hold it optimistic, and shine on. After 50 years of serving to construct this tradition, Salt continues to be main by instance—proving that legends don’t fade. They evolve, and so they convey the entire neighborhood with them.
See full interview right here:
