Let's Talk About Sex


"Let's Talk About Sex" is a song by American hip-hop trio Salt-n-Pepa. It was released in August 1991 as a single from their Blacks' Magic album, and achieved great success in many countries, including Australia, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland and Zimbabwe where it was a number-one hit.

Content

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 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.

Music video

The music video for "Let's Talk About Sex" directed by Millicent Shelton and designed by visual artist and designer Ron Norsworthy, 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 saying 'censored' in its mouth.

Cover versions

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.

Track listings

; 7" Single
  1. "Let's Talk About Sex!" — 3:32
  2. "Let's Talk About Sex!" - 4:39
; CD Maxi
  1. "Let's Talk About Sex!" — 3:32
  2. "Let's Talk About Sex!" — 4:42
  3. "Let's Talk About Sex!" — 4:39
  4. "Do You Want Me" — 6:31

    Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications