Salt-N-Pepa ‘respect’ Nicki Minaj, say ‘there’s still room’ for more female rappers

Salt-N-Pepa were trailblazers in hip-hop as the first all-female rap group, turning the male-dominated genre on its head with their sex-positive tracks.

But during Dirty, Sexy, Funny with Jenny McCarthy interview on Tuesday, Cheryl “Salt” James and Sandra “Pepa” Denton said that 30 years after they burst onto the scene, the industry is still seriously in need of some girl power — even with the outspoken Nicki Minaj dominating the charts with hits like Anaconda and Truffle Butter.

“What do you think of the girls in hip-hop and music now like Nicki Minaj?” asked McCarthy, 43. “Do you feel like brats like that need to shut up, or just mad respect for saying it like it is?”

“You know what, you’ve got to respect her,” said Denton, 46. “I think honestly she is talented, so you can’t take that away from her. She’s there.”

Still, Denton added, “We always say we need more females, though, more voices. And her sustaining shows that there’s still room for more.”

Dirty, Sexy, Funny airs weekdays at 10 am ET on SiriusXM’s Stars (Ch. 109), and you can listen to Salt-N-Pepa’s full interview on demand.

For a free 30-day trial, check out http://www.siriusxm.com/freeTrial.