Trenton Fresh Festival II: LL Cool J, Choice M.C., Supernature, Word of Mouth with D.J. Cheese, at War Memorial Auditorium, Trenton, NJ, November 2, 1985

This poster promotes the second Fresh Festival tour, produced by Def Jam Records.  The first Fresh Fest tour occurred a year earlier in 1984, with Whodini and Run-D.M.C. as headline acts.  It was the first national hip-hop tour.  Billed here for the 1985 tour is Supernature, the earliest incarnation of the rap diva crew Salt-n-Pepa.  As Supernature, they rapped their first song, “The Show Stoppa,” as an answer to Doug E. Fresh and Slick Rick’s hit, “The Show.”  Hurby “Luv Bug” Azor composed and recorded Supernature’s response song for a school project in 1985. 

LL Cool J (James Todd Smith, b. 1968) is a rapper and actor from Long Island, New York. LL Cool J took the name LL Cool J (“Ladies Love Cool James”) and signed with the rap label Def Jam in 1984 at age 16. His first single, “I Need a Beat,” sold more than 100,000 copies. As a two-time Grammy Award winner, LL Cool J is known for songs such as "Rock the Bells", "Mama Said Knock You Out", "Doin' It", "I Need Love", and "Around the Way Girl". In 2017, LL Cool J became the first rapper to receive the Kennedy Center Honors and in 2021, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with an award for Musical Excellence. LL Cool J was an early Hip-Hop artist to achieve mainstream success and one of the few hiphop stars of his era to sustain a successful recording career for more than a decade with his music and acting career.

Choice MCs is a Hip-Hop group from Brooklyn, New York. The members included Fresh Gordon (Gordon Pickett, b. unknown), Jeffery D (Jeffery Darling, b. unknown), Kiethy B (Kieth Bazmore, b. unknown), and Stevie D. (Steve Dunn, b. unknown). Two of their popular songs included “Brooklyn Style” on Rocky Records in 1985 and “Beat of The Street” in 1985 on Tommy Boy.

Super Nature was the original name of rap trio Salt-N-Pepa. The trio included Salt (Cheryl James, b. 1966), Pepa (Sandra Denton, b. 1969), and DJ Spinderella (Deidra Roper, b. 1970). While studying Commented [AJ2]: Needs dimensions, MISSING nursing at Queensborough Community College. Salt and Pepa became close friends and co–workers at Sears. Their co-worker Hurby "Luv Bug" Azor was studying record production at the Center of Media Arts and the two to record for him as a class project. This resulted in the single "The Show Stoppa", a response record to Doug E. Fresh's hit single "The Show". After the success of "The Show Stoppa," the group's name was changed to Salt-N-Pepa because called themselves the “Salt and Pepa MCs”. After numerous success, the trio won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for their song "None of Your Business", making them one of the first female rap acts to win a Grammy Award. Salt-N-Pepa have sold over 15 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling rap acts of all time. Known as the First Ladies of Hip Hop, Salt-N-Pepa have pushed the boundaries over the years by being fashion icons, taking on feminist themes in their songs and personas to help to define and refine how women should be treated and respected.