Salt-N-Pepa Celebrate Pep’s 51st with Surprise Party

*Sandra Denton, otherwise known as Pepa of Salt-n-Pepa, was surprised by her bandmate, Cheryl James, family and friends who threw her a festive surprise part for her 51st birthday.

As TMZ notes, the baller surprise party kicks off a month-long celebration for the rapper, and Pepa told the site that her husband, Gurps Singh Rai, was the mastermind behind the party.

Gurps pretended they were going out for a quiet dinner, but ended up at SIXTY LES in NYC with about 300 people. The website notes that guests feasted on soul food – mac & cheese, chicken wings, cupcakes and cake. Pepa revealed that she and hubby will cap her b-day celebration later this month with a relaxing vacation in Dubai.

In related news, Salt-n-Pepa were recently honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) for their 30 years in the business, and the ladies admit that they have been in couples counseling to keep their hip-hop partnership together.

“We actually love each other, even though we fight a lot,” said Salt. “Pep says it’s a marriage.”

“We don’t fight that much,” added Pepa.

The hip hop legends enjoyed a career resurgence thanks to the Geico commercial that introduced their hit classic “Push It” to a new generation. The commercial led to an additional 50,000 sales and nearly 4 million streams of the song in the three months following the debut of the campaign, Billboard reports.

As EUR previously reported, Salt-n-Pepa are working on a line of athletic wear as well as a cooking show.

“We’re also working on a Salt-N-Pepa cooking show, which is us traveling,” Salt revealed. “We’re traveling anyway and we love to eat! So we might as well bring a camera along as we visit the restaurants and go in the kitchen and see what the chef is up to.”