S andra “Pepa” Denton had just removed her shoes and settled into the massage chair at the She Thing salon in Queens for what she hoped would be a relaxing pedicure when her cellphone started to buzz.

It’s Women’s History Month, so it’s only fitting that a conversation about hip-hop‘s GOATs includes Salt-N-Pepa, the groundbreaking all-girl group that topped the charts with hits like “Push It” and ...