Hot, Cool & Vicious not only served as the debut of the duo Salt-N-Pepa, (formerly known as Super Nature), it was also a line in the sand that proved female MCs make good singles and albums—and were just as marketable as their male counterparts. Denton recalled to ROCK THE BELLS that fateful day when she bumped into Cheryl James.

“She was walking around with these applications from Sears [call center]," Pepa shares. "She was getting a dollar or something for every application she could score. I needed a job. [My car] had a hole in the passenger seat.” Taking a job at a Sears call center connected Denton to James, as the girls ended up working next to each other. It also introduced Denton to Hurby Azor, James’ musically inclined boyfriend, who also worked at the center. “We were working and going to school, and he was going to music and art school,” says Denton. “He used to rap. I would go see him and Kid ’n Play when they were a group.”

“Me and Hurby were together before there was a Salt-N-Pepa. Me and Pepa were friends before there was Salt-N-Pepa,” says Cheryl “Salt” James of those early days. “I always had that insider bird’s-eye view when it came to Hurby. He was in a group called the Super Lovers back in the day, and then he started dibbling and dabbling in production.”

“Pep always called Hurby our third member,” James says. “He played such an intricate part in Salt-N-Pepa, so we always give him respect.”

They first scored with "The Show Stoppa," an answer to Doug E. Fresh and The Get Fresh Crew's 1985 smash hit, "The Show." Salt-N-Pepa's producer and manager Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor told ROCK THE BELLS that he saw how Roxanne Shanté and Marley Marl blew up with a diss/answer record and that he followed that template.

"I originally wanted to answer another record before 'The Show,' and I can’t remember what it was, but I couldn’t find any girls," he said. "There weren’t many girls who rapped and I didn’t know any—so I had to make them!"

"The Show Stoppa" was a solid song and did well, as many answer records did in the wake of "The Roxanne Wars." But it was a generic diss record without a video; and it didn't really generate a great deal of interest in who Super Nature was as a group. It was 1986's "I'll Take Your Man," from the rebranded Salt-N-Pepa, that grabbed Hip Hop's full attention.

“I liked a song by Cerrone called 'Super Nature' and what it was talking about was something more than regular nature—it was Super Nature, so I felt that we were gonna be big and beyond regular so I gave them that name originally," Hurby recalled.

"I'll Take Your Man," with it's infectious beat (due in great part to its "4th Gear" sample by Trouble Funk), was an immediate hit that created the demand for more Salt-N-Pepa's music, which Hot, Cool & Vicious delivered.

When it was released in December of 1986, Hot, Cool & Vicious contained something for every rap fan. "My Mic Sounds Nice" contained an energetic backing track, but its infectious hook, which was based on a routine by Whipper Whip and the late Dota Rock of the Fantastic 5 MCs made the song an instant hit, and it is still revered as a classic today.

The Jam Master Jay produced "It's Alright" was a slow-tempo reggae-inspired banger and one of the highlights of the sample-heavy album. The uptempo "I Desire" showcased the energy of Salt-N-Pepa over the classic "Daisy Lady" break by 7th Wonder; while "Beauty & The Beat" was a dedication to their DJ, (The Original) Spinderella that showcased her spitting a verse.

"Tramp" was an anthem for the ladies which spoke about unfaithful men. Borrowing from the original by Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, the song and video helped to push the album even further into classic status.

"Push It" didn't appear on the album originally, but it performed so well as a single that the album was pulled and reissued to include the Salt-N-Pepa standard. The song that started as a dare did for Salt-N-Pepa what "Walk This Way" did for Run-D.M.C.—it introduced the group to a mainstream audience and sent sales of the album skyrocketing.

“When we made the Hot, Cool, & Vicious album, we basically lived in the studio because we had to make that album super-fast,” Salt told ROCK THE BELLS. “We promised the record label that we could do it for some crazy amount of money. So I was kind of in school, [and] being around [Azor.]” Working so quickly and constantly watching how Azor handled production was having an effect on Salt that she wouldn’t fully appreciate as of yet. But she was definitely paying attention.

“It always interested me, production and coming up with songs,” she says. “And watching him go through the process and being a part of it.”

The group’s original DJ Spinderella, Latoya Hanson, was let go and just before a show at the Westchester Music Festival, Azor introduced 16-year-old Dee Dee Roper as Hanson’s replacement. And in early 1987, Salt-N-Pepa would drop the hit single “Tramp.” It’s B side, “Push It,” would become an in-demand radio hit. That smash single would change everything.

A platinum-selling debut, Hot, Cool & Vicious stands as one of the group's most popular albums. But it's also part of Hip Hop's much talked about and celebrated Golden Era; where there was a strong emphasis on beats and rhymes. Although female rap groups existed prior to Salt-N-Pepa, never had one released an album with such an impact on the male-dominated genre.