Damn, sorry to stretch this thing out into 3 parts. That was never my intention. There just happens to be a lot going on…and, if nothing else, I think I’m clarifying that pretty well with the length of these postings!
Okay, so: The Salt-n-Pepa Show.
Like I said, I wasn’t able to catch this panel, and I was disappointed, but, ultimately, I figured people would be more interested in reading about Steven Van Vandt, and I stand by that decision. But, fortunately, I’ve got the transcript, and it sounds like there’s more than enough remaining tension between the pair that…well, though I hate to admit it, I’m actually rather tempted to watch it.
When asked to go into what happened in 2002, when the pair separated, Salt immediately passed the buck to Pepa, which – as it turned out – was a harbinger of things to come. But, anyway, apparently, what happened was that Salt made the very poor decision of dropping a bomb on Pepa via cell phone.
“We were just in the process of changing management,” began Pepa, “and with my perception, you know, I had all of my eggs in the basket with Salt. I just believed that she and I was going to take the world by storm. We were getting rid of some…you know, some people that were part of our team that wasn’t, you know, good business for us. We were moving forward, so I believed. And once we put that in order and got rid of some of the people, I’m getting a pedicure, or I’m in the salon…actually, Spin Salon, at the time…and my cell phone rings. It was Salt on the phone. And I’m, like, ‘Hey, girl, what’s going on?’ And she was just, like, basically, ‘I don’t want to be joined at your hips anymore. I’m through. I’m leaving the group.’ I was shocked, but I didn’t believe her until I saw that the offers were coming in and she was really sticking with it and saying, ‘No, I’m leaving, and I don’t want to be a part of it anymore.’ And I was just devastated at that moment.”
Salt launched into her defense, naturally, explaining that there had been an escalating series of events which led to her decision. “It had been many years Salt-n-Pepa had a lot of success,” she said, “and it was all fun for her, but from my perspective, I felt like I didn’t have control of my life. I felt like I was compromising in a lot of ways. I had some other really deep issues that I won’t go into right now, and I was just tired. It’s hard being in a group, you know, year after year after year, and I needed to do some soul-searching, you know. It’s that time in an artist’s career where they need to separate from the business. And since then, I got married. I married my daughter’s father. We had another child. I kind of cleaned up my personal life, and I needed that time to do that.”
“Which is fine,” snapped back Pepa, “but with your partner, like in any relationship or marriage or a business, you actually sit down, and you kind of prep that other person who is involved with you that this is your next step. So it was…to me, it was just the way that she did it, and I just never got over it. I’ve just been bitter about it and upset, and we just never really spoke about it.”
“And I have apologized for the way I did it many times,” reminded Salt. “Even in writing.”
Okay, obviously, this is a transcript, and I didn’t see it personally, but I just know that, at this point, Pepa rolled her eyes, because she immediately went off about how there had been much talk of this letter, and that she was aware that Salt had even written a song called “A Letter to Pep,” “but I never received a written letter saying, ‘I apologize to you, Pep.'”
“It never came back to the house,” snapped Salt. “You usually get a ‘Return to Sender.'”
“Apologizing means let’s make this happen.”
“Apologizing means let’s make some money. Once the money is made, then…”
“I’m an entertainer. I like to entertain.”
“I want to make a few million. Then everything will all be good.”
“We made millions!”
“I’m like you: more!”
I mean, maybe it’s all an act, but it sure sounds like they’re still pretty pissed off at each other…and that usually equals good television, from my experience.
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