Salt-N-Pepa’s "Push It” was a hit dance tune that rose in popularity during its less-censored period due to its strong sensual innuendos. They were the Grammy Award-winning group of hip hop artists that have sold more than 1,000,000 copies of Push It.

History of The Song

It was the first time that "Push It," the original song, was made available as a B-side on the "Tramp" 12" single in 1987. Cameron Paul, San Francisco's DJ and producer of 7", released the corresponding single. The radio version was the one that brought the group their first mainstream hit. It was a Billboard Top 40 hit the week beginning December 26, 1987.

The single reached its peak position at number 19 by the end of the week, on February 20, 1988. As the UK's most-charting hit, it also ranks alongside "Let's Talk About Sex", both of which reached their peak in that country at number 2.

In 1986, Salt N-Pepa thought they were singing "Posh it, real Good" when in fact, they had actually been performing "Pow-y, really good", and the police waited to see them again after the show. They were required to provide the lyrics in writing to prove they were right.

The song uses a line taken from "You Really Got Me” by The Kinks. The words are replaced with the "boy" part of "Boy" and reads: "Boys, you really got my going/You got me so that I don't understand what I'm doing." Ray Davies got a songwriting credits for the song "Push It".

It also features "Pick Up on This" from James Brown's album, "I'm a Greedy Man", as well "There It Is", by James Brown. Coal Kitchen's 1977 record "Keep on Pushin," which features the whispered word "Pushit", is used as a sampling. This song is in the key minor of A.

Push It's nomination for a Grammy Award was a strong one. It catapulted Hot, Cool and Vicious back to platinum, with one-million copies. Salt-N-Pepa has become the first female rap collective or solo act to attain gold and/or platinum. This album was ultimately sold to 1.3 Million copies across the globe.

In 2009, Glee covered the song in its first season. It was sung on "Showmance", by Rachel Berry (Lea Michele), Finn Hudson ("Cory Monteith"), Artie Abrams (“Kevin McHale”) and other glee club members.

Chuck Versus Chuck, season 4, episode 4 (2011) featured this song. Ellie Bartowski, Sarah Lancaster's Ellie Bartowski portrays Ellie Bartowski as Clara Woodcomb. This scene shows Lester Patel performing the song with Jeffrey Barnes (played respectively by Scott Krinsky & Vik Sahay), while Jeffrey Barnes (played in the scene by Scott Krinsky) plays Jeffrey Barnes. Both of them sing the song while they are dressed in Salt-N-Pepa jackets.

The 2014 commercial featured the song with a feature cameo by Salt-N-Pepa. It was part of the "It’s What You Do” campaign.

The Big Bang Theory has used the song twice. In 2016, the song appeared on a season 9 episode. It featured Raj Koothrappali's character Leonard Hofstadter singing the song. Kunal Nayyar, Kunal Galecki, and Raj Koothrappali performing it at a party. This song was heard in 2018 episode 4, "Deutschland 86", when a griller listens while listening to it.

The theme song from the song was played on ABC U.S. television game show Supermarket Swap in 2020 hosted by Leslie Jones.

The Grammy Award-winning hiphop group, they sold more than 1,000,000 copies of Push It.

Push It" has become a classic in rap music history. It was also the first song to be released by female artists. It's obvious that everyone knows what this song means. It's about intimacy. In fact it's one of the first pop songs to extol bedroom fun, in the relatively pure 1980's.

Salt-N-Pepa views the song in a different way. They consider it a dance track. Sandra Denton from Pepa stated "it's just about having fun on the dance floor". This is supported by both the instrumental part and lyrics.

Some lyrics are ambiguous, though, and it is apparent that this was done intentionally. This can be seen to indicate that the rappers don't want to stop talking about having fun on the dance floor. You can see the track as encouraging intimacy between partners, because the repeated word "push IT" in the song is displayed throughout.

Salt-N-Pepa intended this track to be perceived as a song, and the video for it - which, again, was quite-risque in 1980s fashion - didn't really help.

It can be concluded that Push It "is a dance song with sensual nuendos. Salt-N–Pepa also embraced the understanding as they were able to achieve greatness.