Oh no, it wasn't that necessary. Salt 'n' Pepa returns to release a studio album, the fourth, three years after the last one. This time, the disco dance London Records (Island) and Next Plateau Records (independent) labels don't want to be wrong: the record is one of the few in rap to be marketed on five continents, in the United States it doesn't go beyond fourth position on the Billboard 200, doing well in Europe, however, in just under two years it has five platinum certifications from the RIAA, four from Canada and one from Australia. Four singles are extracted ("Shoop", "Whatta Man", "None of Your Business", "Heaven 'n Hell"), the first and the second are both #1 among rap singles and enter the top 5 of the Hot 100, the third goes distant in the charts but wins the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, and the fourth fails to rank in the United States.
Insiders has never been too harsh with pop rap and this case isn't an exception for the beloved pioneers of hip-hop, gangsta rap is dominating LA, in NY the hardcore scene is emerging, RZA is coming and it's scary, bloody scary. It's a bit of a shame that this record is so generic and bland. Production is handled by a team of beatmakers led by Henry Azor, who takes care of most of the rhythms and mixing, leaving some beats for Salt n Pepa, DJ Wynn, Steve Azor and Mark Sparks. These choices are all too simplistic, tight syncopated skinny drum machines, easy mediocre samples, light and slow beats, accompanied by pop hooks sung trivially up to annoyance. The lyricism of the girls is poor, most of the cuts fall on sexual topics, and their performance in rapping reflects the poverty of the lyrics. The rare variations offered by beatmakers are bad sex ballad tracks and funky or hip house / hip dance beats.
Tragically mediocre pop rap album, it's a slight improvement over the previous one musically, but it's still bad. Not recommended, 5/10.
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