It’s been 37 years since Cheryl James and Sandra Denton formed the female rap group Salt-N-Pepa and the ladies are still getting their flowers. On November 4, the hip-hop duo received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles, acknowledging the Grammy-winning artists’ decades-long contributions to music. And according to Denton, she knew this historical moment would come one day.
“I said, ‘Hey, we’re due for this thing,’ because we stayed in it. We stayed hard,” she tells ESSENCE, as James makes reference to “the adversities, the naysayars, the haters, the unbelievers” that made for a difficult journey as women rappers.
Speaking to the path they paved for the way hip-hop is consumed today, James says, “Now everybody wants to be pop, that just means you’re popular all over the world so that international, worldwide success that we enjoy, I think that’s our greatest success.”
As for her advice for those who may be facing similar battles as they pursue their passions, the rap veteran adds, “Keep pushing it y’all. If you got a dream, just keep pushing. You never know.”
Watch our full interview with Salt-N-Pepa at the ceremony for their Hollywood Walk of Fame star reveal in the video above.