🗓️ Thursday, Oct. 22
⏰ 5-11 p.m.
💰 General admission: $250, which includes bites and beverages
📍 MOPOP: 325 5th Ave. N, Seattle
On Oct. 22, the Museum of Pop Culture welcomes true legends into its Sky Church during the annual Icons Gala that celebrates the artists, innovators and cultural forces who have made waves and defined generations.
This year’s honorees include pioneering hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa as Music Icon, Jeremy Scott as Fashion Icon, Bruce Lee as Film Icon and HALO as Gaming Icon. The festive evening features a performance from Salt-N-Pepa showcasing the original DJ Spinderella.
We were lucky enough to catch up with the talented group — collectively known as Salt-N-Pepa — about this honor and their upcoming trip to the PNW. Individually, they are Cheryl “Salt” James, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Deidra “DJ Spinderella” Roper.
The Ticket: Have you spent much time in Seattle before? How about MOPOP?
Salt-N-Pepa: We’ve performed in Seattle over the years and always loved the city’s energy and underground art and music scene. Seattle and New York are on opposite sides of the country, but they share an undeniable history in shaping American music culture. We recently learned that Seattle’s founders named the settlement “New York-Alki,” meaning “New York, eventually.” We always knew Seattle felt far but close at the same time. As for the Museum of Pop Culture, we’re so excited to experience it in person. It’s consistently honoring the artists behind the art and feels like the best ending to the U.S. leg of our current tour.
The Ticket: What does this recognition mean to you all?
Salt-N-Pepa: Being named MOPOP’s 2026 Music Icon is truly iconic. After being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year, this feels like a full-circle moment. To have our work recognized by an institution committed to preserving and celebrating the cultural forces that shape our world means everything. What makes it especially meaningful is that the museum is led by Michele Y. Smith, one of the first and few Black women to lead a major pop culture institution in the country. There’s something powerful about being honored in a space like that. We’re all trailblazers in our own right, and this recognition feels mutual.
The Ticket: What makes you most proud about the legacy you’ve had in the industry, now spanning more than four decades?
Salt-N-Pepa: What makes us most proud is that our music still means something. “Very Necessary” hit shelves in 1993. It was our fourth studio album and was less about making history and more about speaking truth. The fact that we did both is a blessing, and to see it continue to have an impact 33 years later tells us the art was bigger than the moment. The album brought us our first Grammy and the honor of being the first female rap group to achieve a platinum certification, but more than that, it brought liberation for the everyday woman and opened doors we hope other female rap artists have walked through with a little more ease than we did.
The Ticket: What about the meaning behind your impact on hip-hop and specifically on female empowerment?
Salt-N-Pepa: We put women’s voices front and center at a time when that wasn’t the norm. Songs like “Shoop,” “Whatta Man” and “None of Your Business” flipped the script. We said out loud what women had been told to keep quiet, and to see the songs to continue to be played and the lyrics to still be sung three decades later, is mind-boggling. But it’s also a reminder that what we were doing was always bigger than us.
The Ticket: Why does this feel especially significant at this moment in time?
Salt-N-Pepa: The Icons Gala falls just one week after the 33rd anniversary of “Very Necessary,” which doesn’t feel like a coincidence. The conversations happening right now about women sound a lot like the ones we were having in 1993. Being honored at this moment by a Black woman leader at a time when, in many ways, women are still breaking through ceilings — makes this all the more important.
The Ticket: Is anything else on your itinerary/wish list for this trip to Seattle?
Salt-N-Pepa: We’re excited to take in everything MOPOP and the city has to offer while we’re there. Knowing the parallels between Seattle and New York, it will feel a bit like a homecoming.
