| "Let's Talk About Sex" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Salt-N-Pepa | ||||
| from the album Blacks' Magic | ||||
| B-side | Remix | |||
| Released | August 27, 1991 | |||
| Format | 7" single, CD single, CD maxi, audio cassette | |||
| Recorded | 1990 | |||
| Genre | Hip-hop | |||
| Length | 3:11 | |||
| Label | Next Plateau Records | |||
| Writer(s) | Fingerprints | |||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||
| Salt-N-Pepa singles chronology | ||||
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"Let's Talk About Sex" is the name of a hit song released by the American hip-hop trio Salt-n-Pepa. It was released as a single from their Blacks' Magic album in the year 1991, and achieved a great success in many countries, including Australia, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland where it was a number-one hit.
Contents |
The song talks about safe sex, the positive and negative sides of sex and the censorship that sex had around that time in American mainstream media. The song was later included in the trio's Greatest Hits (2000) album. It samples "I'll Take You There" by the Staple Singers. An alternate version of the song entitled "Let's Talk About AIDS" was released to radio on a promotional single and included as a b-side on various singles for the song. The lyrics were changed to more directly address the spread of AIDS and HIV.
The music video for "Let's Talk About Sex" starts in a black-and-white scene with a girl turning on a radio and listening to the song. Then she starts kissing her boyfriend and scenes of Salt-N-Pepa and other couples kissing and hugging are shown. Next the video colorizes when Salt-N-Pepa are shown dancing. Another version of the video has a scene in which a skeleton is shown after the word 'AIDS' with a stamp written 'censored' in his mouth.
The song was certified gold by the RIAA and peaked at No. 13 at the Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the purely sales-based UK Singles Chart, the song hit No. 2, and in the German singles chart, the song hit No. 1, the first original song by an American hip-hop act to achieve that feat. It also hit No. 1 in the Australian ARIA Singles Chart.
In 1992, the song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
Peak positions
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End of year charts
Certifications
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| Preceded by "James Brown Is Dead" by L.A. Style |
Dutch Top 40 number-one single November 9, 1991 – November 23, 1992 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Kon ik maar even bij je zijn" by Gordon |
| Preceded by "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" by Bryan Adams |
Austrian number-one single November 10, 1991 – February 9, 1992 (13 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Justified & Ancient" by The KLF |
| German number one single November 15, 1991 – January 17, 1992 (10 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Das Boot" by U96 |
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| Preceded by "Black or White" by Michael Jackson |
Swiss number one single January 19, 1992 (1 week) |
Succeeded by "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" by Elton John and George Michael |
| Australian ARIA Singles Chart number-one single January 25, 1992 – February 15, 1992 (4 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Love You Right" by Euphoria |
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