Let's Talk About Pep

by Sandy Denton, Queen Latifah (Introduction), Missy Elliott (Epilogue)

She's the spiciest ingredient in the legendary rap group Salt-N-Pepa, and the outspoken star of VH1's smash-hit reality show. She's Sandy "Pepa" Denton -- and she's never at a loss for words. Now, in her first tell-all book, Pepa talks about sex, music, life, love, fame, and so much more.... "Most of you know me as Pep, or Pepa, the fun-loving half of Salt-N-Pepa. I am the party girl, the one who is down for whatever. But behind the laughs and the smiles is a whole lot of pain."

Funny, fearless, and full of life, Sandy "Pepa" Denton is a pop culture icon whose remarkable story is every bit as captivating and provocative as her Grammy Award-winning music. This is the real Pepa -- upfront, uncensored, unstoppable -- and these are the memoirs of a true pioneer, fighter, survivor, and inspiration to women everywhere.

For the first time, Pepa talks about:

• Her troubled childhood

• Surviving abuse

• Her first encounters with Cheryl "Salt" James

• Salt-N-Pepa's instant success

• Her failed marriages and her escape from domestic abuse

• Her "breakup" with Salt and their eventual "reunion"

• Her triumphant comeback on the VH1 reality shows The Surreal Life, Fame Games, and The Salt-N-Pepa Show

Filled with surprising insights, outrageous anecdotes, and celebrity cameos -- including Queen Latifah, Martin Lawrence, Janice Dickinson, Omarosa, Missy Elliott, L.L. Cool J, supermodel Caprice, Ron Jeremy, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopez, "Spinderella," and many others -- Let's Talk About Pep offers a fascinating glimpse behind the fame, family, failures, and successes of celebrity...and into the faithful heart of a woman who will always value the good friends she found along the way. In the words of Sandy "Pepa" Denton, "there's no walking away from that."

Genres: Memoir, Music, Nonfiction

210 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Nascha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of Salt and Pepa (and Spinderella). I remember singing and dancing to some of their biggest hits as a kid and pre-teen. When they broke up, I was devastated but not as devastated as Pepa. Later on, when they reunited for their reality show, I made sure to watch every episode, and even watched the entire season of Pepa's spin-off show.

So, I picked up this book as a fan, but also for the inside scoop. I'd heard so much about Salt and Pepa over the years and wanted to know about their beginnings and also the real reason for their break-up. I also knew that Pepa had struggled with her love life and wanted to learn more about that. But I was in for so much more.

Pepa openly shares a lot about herself, her family, her childhood, her troubles, love life etc. She is very honest and you get a real feel for her. The voice of this book is very conversational. It read almost as though Pepa is talking to you herself.

Parts were very funny, other parts were sad and some were very emotional. She's gone through a lot and I learned so much more about her and about being a woman than even I had expected. I'm not the biggest fan of memoirs but I really enjoyed this one and I definitely recommend it for all the S&P fans.

Now, if only Salt and Spin would come out with a book.

[Carolyn Stanley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I AM TOTALLY EMBARRASSED TO EVEN ADMIT I READ THIS GARBAGE. SOMEONE AT THE SALON LEFT IT BEHIND AND I SAID "I REMEMBER SALT N PEPA, LET ME TRY IT OUT"
I ACTUALLY FEEL BADLY FOR SANDY.....DID ANYONE PROOF READ THE BOOK OR DID THE PUBLISHERS TRY TO EMBARRASS HER INTENTIONALLY.

THE BRAGGING IN THE BOOK CAME ACROSS AS SOMEONE TRYING SO BADLY TO BE SOMEONE THEIR NOT. TALK ABOUT LOW SELF ESTEEM.
DRIVING 200 MPH THROUGH TRAFFIC? SAVE IT.
"I'M THE BEST AT THIS, I'M THE BADDEST GIRL IN TOWN, I'M THE BEST A THIS AND THAT, ME, ME, ME, ME" BOOOOORING!


I'M SPEECHLESS AT HOW RIDICULOUS THIS BOOK WAS.
I CAN'T BELIEVE SOMEONE SPENT OVER $20 ON THIS CRAP.

IT SHOULD BE TITLED: LET'S TALK ABOUT LITHIUM. SOMETHING THE AUTHOR SHOULD TRY OUT.
CLEARLY PEP HAS ISSUES THAT SHE HASN'T OVERCOME YET.
THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A MEMOIR? NON FICTION?
PLEASE.

[Adrienna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem I have, is this book is all over the place. I am reading one incident and jump to another, no continuity and flow.

She has fragment sentences like "and everyone sang." This is Pocket Book publishers: who is the editor? I know that Karen Hunter help write the book, is it her editing skills or writing style that makes this book look bad as far as how it was written.

Overall, I think they were pushing the book since it is a popular musical icon, and figured it will sale no matter what!

I like the part when she spoke about Aaliyah vision of her own death, and did not take heed to it the day before her very death after confessing it to Missy Elliott, and then Sandy Denton was getting dreams about this after Missy told her about it...God shows us things through visions/dreams/insight and speaking it into existence and we should take heed. This is what I liked most about the book.

Sandy does not really tell why Cheryl James-Wray problems and the break-up exactly, which I feel it should have never been mentioned if she did not want to take it there.

[Keyona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not the biggest fan of memoirs but I figured Pepa would be very interesting. Her book had some funny parts and some sad parts. It seemed like it wasn't very well thought out and outlined. Her book read as if you were having the longest conversation with someone with ADD...She went from one thing to the next and then back to the first thing. I was getting confused at times. Overall it shed some light on a couple of celebrities and made me see them quite differently. She definitely had a story to tell with a good message behind it;it just wasn't organized and didn't flow.I'm giving it 3 stars for her personality showing in her writing and keeping me entertained.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read Pep's story, since I've listened to Salt N Pepa since their first album came out. However, I was greatly disappointed with the lack of editing. There are missing words and extra words in both of the intros. I have a list of page numbers and the errors I found. It saddens me that her story didn't get the same level of attention as some other biographies. Yes, I understand she's hip hop, and yes I understand it's a celebrity bio. I understand they wanted it to sound natural and keep her 'voice', but I also want to read complete sentences.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this over Thanksgiving. A good cure for homesickness. Approx 4 typos. I am convinced that the biographys of any kind of pop star and or wrestler needs to have a few good typos. I am glad this book exists. It sheds some light on women in the music business/ hip hop scene. Wanting the bad boy but getting beat up by the bad boy. Pep was a self proclaimed partier. She strung unhealthy relationship to unhealthy relationship. But the problem is, the good times were really good so it encouraged her to justify the bad times. Finally after Salt broke up with her and she had some babes to look out for, she started looking out for number 1. She took a vow of celibacy in 2005 and is working on building healthy relationships. Go Pep!

Apparently salt 'n' pepa had a reality TV show on MTV. Totally missed that one. But it brought them back together as friends so that was cool. On a scale of 1 to the unauthorized biography of Lisa Left Eye Lopez, I give this one an a lot better.

[Ashti]

Who doesn't want to read about Pepa!!!

[Tasha]

It's was entertaining but yet an ok read.

[Chene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok read. Not worth buying borrow from a friend.

[Orsayor · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Tamiko Grant]

Good read. Learned alot about Pep.

[Andrial Durant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was published in 2008 and I remember being at Barnes and Noble preparing to purchase another book for my book club....we chose The coldest winter ever... anyways and I was waiting for them to get the book and stumbled upon this book and quickly read the first three chapters. During this time I was madly in love with Trench form Naughty By Nature and was being nosey to see if she was spill the tea about her relationship and marriage to him. I didn’t get the book but it has always been in the back of my mind to get this book and finish the read and I finally have 10-11 year later. Wow! You never know what a person goes through especially the celebrities. You think that because they are famous and have all this money then they must be 100% happy. Who would have knew. I love the group and in reading this memoir respect sandy even more.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Salt and Pepa

The things that famous people go through. Looking from the outside you think every thing is going great, but they have problems and issues just like we normal people do. Way to go!!!good book. Very good book. I found out a lot of things that were interesting and I learned a lot about pepa. She is a very strong woman. Keep on keeping on...

[Sonia Sein · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book. Love the way she let one know that she is also human. Letting people know that she was vulnerable to domestic violence and how she removed herself. How she is wants what we all want. That her being a star doesn't make her no different from us. A good read.

[Key · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good read. I learned a lot about her. I like her personality. She can really write another book considering years has passed since this one was released .

She tried not to use real names for some individuals but you know who they are if you grew up during her era.

[Drea Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pep is a strong woman I could definitely relate to her pain. It was a good read

[Elle]

Yikes, talk about learning your lessons the hard way.

I am not rating this book as it was written very poorly.

[Lawrence Tuck · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, the book was definitely all over the place. Seems like she used a ghostwriter. Makes it a difficult read and hard to follow when it's like that.

[krystal thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Learn a lot about Pep in this book

[Sparklin C Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a rollercoaster ride of emotions. We must all remember that at the end of the day. Celebrities have issues and a past just like everyone else. Only difference is their business is in the spotlight.

[Eva-Marie Nevarez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay- I don't know if I have a different book than some of the others who reviewed this or if I'm just used to books with a lot of mistakes in them but this did not have all that many editing errors. I found 4 or 5 total and my eyes usually don't miss even the smallest things like that in a book. That's not to mention that I was on the look-out because of the reviews.
I gave this a two for specific reasons. The first being that she repeats herself a little too much for my liking. I don't feel she was trying to show off at all and her wonderful personality shows through easily. I also don't think the book had any of the jumping around some other people found but maybe I'm a jumpy person by nature and didn't notice? Very possible! But I thought it flowed quite nicely to be honest.
I enjoyed learning about the early days and also her relationship with Cheryl- we've all wondered about that. She didn't do a lot of name dropping in the sense that she was trying to make herself bigger in my opinion. I guess in all honesty she does come off as a little stuck up.
She did feel the need to specify that SHE held the group together, the group wasn't making money until SHE did this or that, etc. Hey- it may be true- we don't know.
The vision bit freaked me out a little- I'll admit that. If what she says about those visions she had that came true are real then that's some real crazy shit.
Near the end of the book she "thanked" O.J. for killing his wife. Apparently it took the media attention off of her for being friendly with Andre Rison around the time Lisa Lopez torched his mansion. I'm hoping, really hoping, she didn't know how that sounded, didn't mean it the way I took it, that I took it wrong, any of the above, but it still shook me to my core that those words come out of her. That's just insane. That took a star off the book for me, that one sentence.
Besides that she seems like a cool person trying to overcome problems, like the rest of us.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

First of all, anyone who has sexual assault or domestic violence triggers should not read this book. It is extremely graphic, which I think is one of it's strengths but could also be really awful if you can't stomach such content. There are a lot of flaws with this book: it's name-droppy, it doesn't talk about the music at all (big disappointment), and there are some really off things said about assault. For example, in the first chapter, Pep talks about being chronically late and a therapist asking her abruptly "How old were you when you were molested?" and then explains that being late is a trait of sexual assault survivors. Which is news to me, and sounds like incredibly awful counseling.

However, despite it's problems, if you see this book for what it is, a self-discovery process, rather than an autobiography, it's informative. I think it's incredibly useful to have celebrities/pop heroes candidly discuss their experiences with assault. It encourages a culture of open communication, less shame, and more empowerment. I wish that this book could have addressed the more complicated aspects of domestic violence, for example, why she stayed in an abusive relationship for over 8 years, even following marital rape. But, Pep isn't an activist, and this book is clearly more for herself than for the public.

Regardless, it's an exceptionally quick read for anyone who wants a piece of hip hop and women's music history.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a pretty huge Salt n Pepa fan back in the day, and "Very Necessary" is probably still one of my favourite albums. That being said, I found the book pretty interesting. I'm a sucker for behind-the-scenes tidbits & info. I think I'll go put on Whatta Man now -- you so crazy, I think I wanna have your baby.

[Christal · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book so far, and I am currently 89% finished. I actually like the way it us written, more in the voice of Peppa, and less in the voice of a seasoned writer or editor. It gives her story more credibility and reality, which makes it more interesting. I can relate to some of the things that she talks about in this autobiography, which surprised me. Peppa is human after all.

[Patricia Gilliam · Rating 1 out of 5]

I seriously couldn't finish this book, I tried and tried too, but it was soooo frustrating to read it.

Unless you're under the age of 15, i wouldn't even bother! And even if you are, it would still be a waste of perfectly good brain cells!

[Nastassia Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

i always wanted to know what really happen to "salt and pepa" most of all i wanted to know the history of "salt and pepa". this book is amazing. i didn't know how hard her life was but she has turned out to be a lovely individual.....you should read it....

[Buttafly · Rating 5 out of 5]

our perception of someone is not always their reality. you think you know, but you have no idea!

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

ITS A REALLY GOOD READ.

[Frances · Rating 3 out of 5]

very entertaining...I read in about 5 hours

[MARLO PALMER]

The start of this book is very interesting. So far so good.