Salt-N-Pepa – "Push It" (1987)

Boy, you really got me going

You got me so I don't know what I'm doing

Do those lines sound familiar?

They should.  If you change the "boy" to "girl," you've got the first two lines to "You Really Got Me," the 1964 single that put the Kinks on the map.

I'm not sure what inspired the hip hop trio Salt-N-Pepa to appropriate those lines for its 1987 hit, "Push It."

Yes, I said hip hop trio.  Salt-N-Pepa consisted of three ladies: "Salt" (Cheryl James), "Pepa" (Sandra Denton), and "DJ Spinderella" (Deidra Roper).  

Salt, Pepa, and DJ Spinderella

Salt-N-Pepa was the first really successful all-female rap group.  At a time when rap music was often criticized for sexist, X-rated lyrics, Salt-N-Pepa brought feminism to the world of hip-hop.

How?  By wearing scanty outfits on stage and performing songs that were just as sexually explicit as those written by male rappers, that's how.  (You go, girls!)

From "Push It":

Can't you hear the music's pumpin' hard

Like I wish you would?

Now push it

Push it real good!

(Anything you can do, I can do better, baby!)

I hadn't thought about "Push It" for years until I recently saw a Geico commercial that featured Salt-N-Pepa and "Push It":

Here's "Push It":

Click below to buy the song from Amazon for only 69 cents: