Parental Distraction Advised : Salt-N-Pepa’s first album in 3 years, ‘Very Necessary,’ has hip-hopped up the charts, boosted by a sizzling ‘Shoop’ single and video. Not bad for a group whose members took a long hiatus and returned as solo moms

M ove over “knockin’ da boots� and “hittin’ the skins�--Salt-N-Pepa has given us a new hip-hop term for sex. And, not surprisingly, it’s selling.

“Shoop,� one of the sizzling tracks from the rap trio’s first album in three years, playfully toys with the risque business of sex and the single girl. “Give me some of that yum-yum chocolate chip /

Honey dipped / Can I get a scoop?�

The equally raunchy “Shoop� video--which reveals Cheryl (Salt) James, Sandy (Pepa) Denton and De De (Spinderella) Roper showcasing their dramatically slimmed-down physiques--has helped push the album, “Very Necessary,� up to No. 12 this week on the nation’s pop charts.

The follow-up video, “Whatta Man,� which shows the rappers performing with En Vogue on a song praising men who are loyal to their significant others, also flashes plenty of flesh. This shouldn’t surprise fans of the group from Queens, N.Y., whose 1987 debut album, “Hot, Cool and Vicious,� established the group as the first million-selling female rappers.

But even the group’s biggest fans may have been surprised by the ease with which Salt-N-Pepa have returned to rap stardom after a three - year hiatus. During the break, all three women had babies, and all chose to be single parents.

While in Los Angeles on business recently, Salt and Pepa--who decline to give their ages but appear to be in their late 20s--spoke during an interview at their Universal City hotel about the success of “Shoop� and their paradoxical roles as both moms and pop sirens.

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Question: With all of the accusations that rap music exploits women, do you think you are guilty of exploiting men in “Shoop�?

Salt: No. We don’t do anything in a distasteful way that would make people want to disrespect us. But it’s always more shocking when women (are the sexual aggressors). We are positive, strong women, and we demand our respect.

Pepa: Our fans look at it in a healthy way. But don’t forget, we have skills. Sex isn’t what made us. But we’re proud of our bodies, and we conduct ourselves in a mature way.

Q: Since you both have young children, do you worry about the sexual explicitness in your music and videos?

Salt: My daughter’s only 2 and it does make me feel a little uncomfortable, which is why I make sure that she doesn’t watch everything. I understand it’s the responsibility of a parent to monitor your child’s television.

Pepa: People who bring their kids to a Salt-N-Pepa concert should know we’re not popcorn and candy. You’ve seen the videos. You know what we’re about and what someone like Madonna’s about.

Salt: By the same token, I wouldn’t take my child to the kind of gangsta rap concert that degrades women or that is too violent. There are a lot of gangsta rappers I do like, but you have to know what artist you’re dealing with.

Q: How has motherhood affected your careers?

Salt: My daughter made me happier than I’ve ever been before. You know that your child has unconditional love for you. It’s like a present that you have at home at the end of the day.

Q: Do your kids like rap music?

Salt: Kids are being born into rap music as their music. That’s all my daughter listens to, so I know it’s going to be around for her generation when they get my age. You can’t kill it. It’s just spawned more types.

Pepa: Even radio can’t kill it. And it’s tried to kill it.

Q: What prompted you to get in physical shape? I understand Pepa lost 40 pounds.

Salt: Knowing we were going to be in a video with En Vogue last year definitely played a part, but we had gotten in shape before that. The time we weren’t putting out records we were having kids and that totally changes your mind, your thinking. It makes you grow up. We changed record companies, took control over our money and we changed our attitude. Basically, we became women. And that shows in our videos. It’s a take-charge, take-control attitude.

The fact that we got in shape after we had babies makes people realize that you don’t have to have a baby and keep that baby fat. You can shed it. It’s easier than you think. It’s all about willpower. And when we came back, everybody noticed such a difference. It’s almost like starting over.

Pepa: My girlfriend recently told me, “I’m jealous. Dang, you look so good.� She saw that I was a big girl before and had never worked out, and when she saw what happened with me, she figured (she) could do it too.

Q: Tastes change so fast in rap that seven years seems like an eternity. How have you been able to avoid the “been-around-too-long� syndrome?

Salt: We’re very focused. We never look to the right or the left to see who’s doing what or what’s the trend. It’s always about Salt-N-Pepa. We’re always changing our look, our attitude and our lyrical content. We’re not in one set flow.

Pepa: If we would’ve come out with some hard-core gangsta rap--which some people told us to do--our fans would’ve been like, “Oh come on, you’re Salt-N-Pepa, pleeease. . . . “ I mean, we’re mothers now.

Q: “I’ve Got AIDS,� the last track on your new album, is actually a performance by a teen group about a youth discovering she is HIV-positive. Do you see a contradiction between that message and the sexual overtones in your videos?

Salt: First of all, we’ve always stood for safe sex, and we’ve been working within the AIDS community for years. We’d been looking for a song to put on this album about AIDS, and when we saw (the teen group) do their skit in Boston, they had us in tears. We decided this was even better than a song--that it would hit teen-agers even harder to hear another teen-ager get AIDS.

Pepa: I have to be honest, I have an older sister who always spoke to me about that. She tried to put the bug in my ear to be careful, but I ignored her. It wasn’t until I was in the studio and Magic Johnson announced he was positive that me and Salt looked at each other and really, really got serious. We realized that this could happen to us also.

Q: Do you feel entertainers can have any impact on issues such as AIDS?

Salt: I (hope) so. A lot of people have come up to us and said, “Hi, I’m so and so, and I’m really glad for what you’re doing. I’m HIV-positive, or I have AIDS.� No matter how many times it happens, you’re always just standing there in pain, looking at them going, “It’s real.� It’s not always a gay person, it’s not always an IV drug user. Most of the time, it’s someone just like you and me. I feel like we have to do this.*

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