Salt-N-Pepa Set for Long Beach Pride 2015 Main Stage
The Long Beach Pride Team2 min read
The Long Beach Post broke the news that hip-hop pioneers Salt-N-Pepa would take the Long Beach Pride main stage in May 2015, picked by our own community.
Back in February 2015, the Long Beach Post shared some news our community had been waiting on: Salt-N-Pepa were coming to the Long Beach Pride Festival. The story announced that the groundbreaking hip-hop duo would perform on the main stage on Saturday, May 16, 2015, as part of the 32nd annual celebration.
What made this booking special was how it happened. The Post reported that Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride spent the months before the announcement asking the community, through social media and the website, which artists people most wanted to see. Salt-N-Pepa kept coming up. So the organization went after them.
Salt-N-Pepa was one of the most requested artists, and Rhonda Fuller, our vice president of entertainment, was able to secure the band and get the contract signed.
Annie Parkhurst, Long Beach Pride spokeswoman, to the Long Beach Post
The Post reminded readers why the group still matters. Salt-N-Pepa were the first female rap crew to break through on radio, and the first female rappers ever to win a Grammy. Songs like “Shoop” and “Whatta Man” filled dance floors, and their lyrics spoke about independence, safe sex and self-respect at a time when few artists did.
Cheryl James, known to fans as Salt, told the Post that people still stop the duo to say how much the music meant to them.
They come up to us and mention that our music touched them, brings back so many great memories for them and helped them just see life differently.
Cheryl James (Salt), as quoted by the Long Beach Post
For us, this story is a small snapshot of how Long Beach Pride works at its best. The lineup came from the people who show up every May. The festival that year ran May 16 and 17 along Shoreline Drive in Downtown Long Beach, with the Long Beach Pride Parade stepping off on Ocean Boulevard on Sunday, May 17.
We were proud to put the community’s own pick on the main stage, and grateful to the Post for telling readers how it came together.
Read the full story at Long Beach Post.
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