I Love the 90’s Tour

The St. Augustine Amphitheatre proudly announces the return of the hugely popular I Love the 90’s Tour featuring hip hop legends Salt N Pepa with Spinderella, Kid ‘n Play, Coolio, Tone Loc, Thea Austin (formerly of SNAPP!) and C&C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams.

They are, undoubtedly, the group that changed the face of hip-hop as we know it. They also gave females across the globe a voice within their communities and the music industry as a whole. They are Salt N Pepa. Legends, icons, trailblazers, pioneers, innovators and trendsetters are just a few words often used to describe Salt N Pepa. From GRAMMYs to MTV Video Awards, they have won them all. Whether it’s the top of the charts or on stages at sold out coliseums across the country, they have done it all. They are GRAMMY-award winning group, Salt N Pepa, which consists of Cheryl James and Sandy Denton (“Salt” and “Pepa”, respectively), and Deidre “Dee Dee” Roper (DJ Spinderella). As the first ever female rap crew, Salt N Pepa, broke barriers and opened doors wide open that were once closed to women in hip-hop. They gave women a voice in a male dominated industry and transformed the way the music world saw women forever. With the hit songs “Push It,” “Shake Your Thang,” “Shoop,” and “Whatta Man,” Salt N Pepa would defy everyone’s expectations and catapult hip-hop to new levels. You can’t list or mention the top rap songs of all time without their hit songs showing up. And you can’t talk about music history without mentioning their names. Their contributions to a culture and to the world of hip hop have influenced the landscape and look of music as we know it today.

Among the first groups to tame rap’s hardcore mentality into a positive, message-oriented music suitable for teens and mass audiences, Kid ‘n Play debuted in 1988 with the platinum album 2 Hype, which the duo later spun into a deal involving films and a Saturday-morning cartoon show, the first involving a rap act. Though their recording activity became limited during the ’90s — 1991’s Face the Nation was their last album — the group managed two sequels to their original House Party film, as well as the 1991 teen flick Class Act. Kid (born Christopher Reid; Bronx, NY) and Play (born Christopher Martin; Queens, NY) first met while performing in rival high school groups (the Turnout Brothers and the Super Lovers, respectively) and initially teamed up as Fresh Force. Play’s former bandmate, Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor, became the duo’s manager and signed Kid ‘n Play to Select Records in 1987. Despite the predominance of James Brown samples during the mid-’80s, Azor gave 2 Hype a production job more rooted in disco and pop; thanks to the near-Top Ten R&B hit “Rollin’ with Kid ‘n Play,” the album eventually reached platinum status.

Coolio, born Artis Leon Ivey, Jr., was one of the first rappers to balance pop accessibility with gritty, street-level subject matter and language. Yet despite his nods to hardcore, his music was clearly more happy-go-lucky at heart; he shared the West Coast scene’s love of laid-back ’70s funk, and that attitude translated to his music far more often than Dr. Dre’s Death Row/G-funk axis. Most of Coolio’s hits including “Fantastic Voyage” and “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)” were exuberant, good-time party anthems (save for his moody signature song “Gangsta’s Paradise”), and he created a goofy, ingratiating persona in the videos that supported them. In the process, Coolio took the sound of West Coast hip-hop to wider audiences than ever before, including those put off by — or too young for — the rougher aspects of G-funk.

Tone Loc soared from obscurity into pop stardom in 1989 when his hoarse voice and unmistakable delivery made the song “Wild Thing” (using a sample from Van Halen’s “Jamie’s Cryin'”) a massive hit winning Grammy’s and countless other awards. The song Wild Thing was co-written by Marvin Young, better known as Young MC, as was the second single smash, “Funky Cold Medina.” The album “Loc-ed After Dark” became the second rap release ever to top the pop charts and one of the most popular of all time.

Thea Austin is an American female dance/house singer/songwriter/composer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was the lead singer of five Top 40 hits around the world and she sang lead vocal on Snapp!’s cross-Atlantic hit “Rhythm Is a Dancer” among several other SNAPP! hits.

C+C Music Factory featuring Freedom Williams is an American musical group formed in 1989 by David Cole and Robert Clivillés. The group is known for their hit singles: “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)”, “Here We Go (Let’s Rock & Roll)”, “Things That Make You Go Hmmmm…”, “Just a Touch of Love”, and “Keep It Comin’.” C+C Music Factory have earned a total of 35 music industry awards worldwide, including five Billboard Awards, five American Music Awards, and two MTV Video Music Awards. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked them as the 44th most successful dance artists of all-time.