Salt-N-Pepa, Outkast, Thom Bell and others inducted into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
Hip-hop icons Salt-N-Pepa and Outkast were among this year’s inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Saturday, adding their names to the pantheon of music’s most esteemed and beloved acts.
Groundbreaking New York hip-hop trio Salt-N-Pepa – which includes Jamaican-born Sandra “Pepa” Denton – was honored with a Musical Influence Award for their hit songs “Let’s Talk About Sex,” “Push It” and “Shoop,” which celebrate women’s independence with playful sexuality in a male-dominated genre.
“These three women are the bricklayers to the foundation that holds hip-hop together,” Grammy-winning singer Missy Elliott told the audience before introducing their performance. “They gave us their shoulders to stand on.”
Outkast, who topped charts with “Hey Ya,” “Ms Jackson” and “The Way You Move,” were welcomed into the Hall with a tribute from actor Donald Glover, who said he grew up listening to the Atlanta rap duo.
Big Boi and André 3000 of Outkast speak onstage during the 2025 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at Peacock Theater on November 08, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo: AFP)
“Big Boi and André, I want to personally, thank you. Around the time Speakerboxxx/The Love Below came out, I wrote a letter from college to my brother, and I said, ‘I had a dream that we wrote a show together,’” said Glover. “Thank you for showing me that brothers may not always see eye to eye and their philosophies or styles, but they need each other in a world that would rather see them both fail together. … Atlanta is not the music Mecca it has become without you. There is no Childish Gambino without you. There is no South without you.”
Other inductees included Jamaican-born, Philadelphia-raised, Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Thom Bell, Cyndi Lauper, the White Stripes and Soundgarden.
Bell was one of the key architects of the richly-orchestrated ‘Sound of Philadelphia’ brand of soul music along with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.
New Yorker Lauper, who burst onto the pop scene with colorful punk looks and infectious tunes like “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” “True Colors” and “Time After Time,” was inducted by “Pink Pony Club” singer Chappell Roan.
Praising her “four-octave range” and unapologetic style, Roan thanked Lauper for being an icon for any artiste who may be called “too much, too loud, too eccentric or all of the above — their honesty becomes their greatest strength.”
To induct Detroit rock band The White Stripes — known for sports arena favorite “Seven Nation Army” and “Fell in Love with a Girl,” among others — singer Iggy Pop gave an exuberant speech peppered with curse words and his own screeching impressions of the band’s raucous sound.
“The White Stripes music was coming from a foundation of love, not revolution,” Pop said.
Additional reporting by AFP
