Twenty-five years after rap duo Salt-n-Pepa’s debut — and, no, I can’t believe I just wrote that — female hip-hop stars are still sadly rare. MC Lyte followed fast on their heels, Missy Elliott expanded the role, and Nicki Minaj is currently ascendant, but the genre has never seemed capable of making room for more than a couple of A-list women at a time. So it’s sort of nice that Salt-n-Pepa are the ringleaders of the “Legends of Hip-Hop Tour,” whose revolving golden-age cast — Lyte excepted — is otherwise a boys’ club. The duo built two of its best hits — “Tramp” and the En Vogue pair-up “Whatta Man” — off classic Stax singles, so hopefully Memphis music will get payback in the form of recognition this week. Scheduled to join Salt-n-Pepa on the Memphis leg of the tour are Biz Markie (“Vapors”), Whodini (“Five Minutes of Funk”), Kool Moe Dee (“How Ya Like Me Now”), and the incomparable Doug E. Fresh (“The Show”). The “Legends of Hip-Hop Tour” lands at the DeSoto Civic Center on Sunday, March 13th. Showtime is 6:30 p.m. Tickets range from $44 to $59. — Chris Herrington
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