Pioneering hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa was inducted into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame during the organization’s 57th annual ceremony at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium on Saturday evening (Feb. 28).
Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Deidra “DJ Spinderella” Roper — the first female rap group to achieve platinum certification and win a Grammy Award — were presented with their award by fellow rap trailblazer MC Lyte.
“I’m a longtime friend with the group, and I came up with them,” Lyte said. “They influenced me and so many others in our careers. They showed all of us that we could stand toe to toe with any roughneck.”
Speaking first after the group received their statuettes following a standing ovation, Salt eschewed a planned acceptance speech (“I don’t have my glasses.”) She opted instead to rap — much to the star-filled audience’s head-nodding delight — and proved she hasn’t lost her signature flow.
“Here’s to my kings and my queens,” Salt began. “Hip-hop and rap fiends. I ain’t talking pipes. I’m talking about rap dreams. I can’t breathe. All I see is hands and white knees. 2025 came and went like lightning. Time moving way too fast. It’s frightening. Let’s move like Spike Lee and do the right thing. They smile in your face while putting a knife in. Backstabbers. Can’t stand them … Let there be voices. Sing, kiss the ring. Here’s to my melanin kings; they exchange strange fruit for yellow tape and chalk lines. How many murders? How many of us lost lives? How many lies, how many cries, how many rallies? Yea, though I walk through the valley on that rap tip like catfish on grits, like ’80s hip-hop. Pump your fists, like this.”
Noting the award “represents longevity, resilience and sisterhood,” Pepa remarked, “When we first started, there wasn’t any blueprint for women like us in hip-hop. We were told to compete, we were told to conform. We were told to make ourselves smaller in the room. But we chose to stand together and to stay true to who we are. So this award is really for the women that came before us. It’s for the women standing beside us. It’s for the women coming next, and it’s for every female MC who was ever underestimated but never silenced.”
Over the course of their three-decade+ career, Salt-N-Pepa and DJ Spinderella released a string of enduring hits and cultural anthems such as “Push It,” “Shoop,” “Whatta Man” (with En Vogue) and “Let’s Talk About Sex.” Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2025, the group was previously honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021 and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2022.
“We didn’t know we were building a movement,” added Spinderella of the NAACP honor. “We were just being ourselves. Looking back, we changed what women in hip-hop were allowed to be. We normalized women owning their voice. We talked about independence, expression, relationships, sex, confidence, standards, openly and unapologetically, and the visuals: the fashion, the hair, the choreography, the attitude.
“We were feminine without shrinking; bold without apology,” she continued . “We made it clear that fun, fashion and femininity had a place in hip-hop and our songs. They weren’t just hits. They sparked conversations. And we didn’t just entertain. We connected. When I look at the generations that came after us — they’re so confident, so bold, so message-driven, so powerful — I smile. I’m so proud. Now I understand what we built wasn’t just music; it was a movement. We are Salt-N-Pepa. We are sisterhood.”
Aired via BET, CBS and across the Paramount networks, the NAACP Image Awards also presented special honors to Viola Davis (chairman’s award) and Colman Domingo (president’s award). Michael B. Jordan (Sinners) won the entertainer of the year award, presented by Lionel Richie. That category’s other nominees included Kendrick Lamar, Doechii, Teyana Taylor and Cynthia Erivo. See the full winners list here.
Returning as host, actor/comedian Deon Cole, a three-time Image Award winner, helmed the two-hour celebration, which featured no musical performances. He kept the ceremony lively and colorful, covering everything from blasting ICE to roasting Nicki Minaj in a playful prayer on behalf of several entertainers.
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