Rappers get warm and cuddly

When Cheryl “Salt” James of Salt-N-Pepa asked a potential lover in the hip-hop anthem “Shoop,” “Come on, gimme summa that yum-yum chocolate chip, honey dip, can I get a scoop?” she was not exactly referring to ice cream cones.

That hit, along with “Push It,” “Whatta Man” and “Let’s Talk About Sex,” defined the group’s brash yet innocently catchy approach to sex, making the female rappers groundbreakers in the male-dominated world of hip-hop.

But these days, if James has an itching for chocolate chips, most likely she really is referring to baked goods. In the VH1 series “The Salt-N-Pepa Show,” born-again James is expressing her more spiritual side, leaving the raunchy lyrics and double-entendres behind, much to the chagrin of her once-and-current soul mate Sandra “Pepa” Denton, who still embraces the more sexual nature of Salt-N-Pepa. Their pairing now is closer to an updated “Laverne and Shirley” as they try to move forward together despite their different lifestyles.

Salt-N-Pepa is not the only edgy hip-hop group turning over a new leaf in front of TV cameras. As the provocative urban music continues to run up against troubled times and sales, artists instrumental in establishing a genre largely rooted in sex, violence and sharp social commentary have traded thugs for hugs, lured by the more accessible -- and financially rewarding -- forum of TV to broaden their audience.

Showing their humanity

Now fans of hip-hop can watch music mogul Irv “Gotti” Lorenzo, who cultivated a gangster-like persona while heading the Murder Inc. label in the ‘90s, in VH1’s “Gotti’s Way” having heart-to-heart talks with his former wife and his stepdaughter. The series chronicles his efforts at a professional comeback after being acquitted of laundering drug money.

Snoop Dogg, whose image has hopscotched between the nonthreatening thug in car commercials and the scowling former gang member who has frequent brushes with the law and an open affection for marijuana, will spotlight his kinder, gentler side in E! Entertainment’s “Father Hood.”

Singer Keyshia Cole, who grew up on the hard side of Oakland, is at the center of “Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is,” one of the most popular series on BET and now in its second season.

Coolio, the wild-haired prophet in the 1995 hit “Gangster’s Paradise,” will star in a reality series for Oxygen next year that will follow his “trials and tribulations” balancing his career with raising six teens as a single parent.

Toning down some of the more provocative and volatile elements that made them stars has put their “street cred” on the line. But many of the artists spotlighted in the shows contend that instead of mellowing or selling out, they have done just the opposite -- that these shows demonstrate their true strength and honesty by stripping away the image and revealing the humanity underneath the persona.

“I feel that the biggest gangsters in the world are the ones who are real and who take care of their families,” said Lorenzo. “If you look at the biggest gangsters of our time, their main focus is family.”

Viewers are witnessing a transition in hip-hop. “With Irv and Murder Inc., and with Salt-N-Pepa, they had a real bravado and showmanship, which was the way they got over,” said Brian Graden, president of entertainment for MTV Networks, the parent company of VH1. “But it’s like moving from MTV to VH1 -- we all go through changes, and your relationship to that lifestyle changes. These shows are very much a change-of-life thing as well as showing a change in the world of hip-hop.”

Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, pointed out that rappers are following in the footsteps of artists such as Elvis Presley and Ozzy Osbourne, who went from being “dangerous” to domesticated. Said Thompson, “Hip hop depended on this notion of being anti-establishment, like Public Enemy’s ‘Fight the Power.’ But when you become a regular character on some of these shows, it strips away that revolutionary aura and moves the art form to a larger audience.”

Extending careers

Still, executive producer Cris Abrego, who helped create “Gotti’s Way” as well as other music-flavored reality shows such as “Flavor of Love” with Flavor Flav, said the trend marks a new order for the music industry.

“The music industry is quickly changing, and not for the better,” he said. “Artists are looking for other ways to get exposure.”

They’re also seeking longevity, said Bill Adler, a media consultant who was publicity director for rap-pioneering Def Jam Records from 1984 through 1990. “Hip-hop is mostly for young folks, and now the question for the ones who paved the way is, ‘How do you create a second act?’ As far as these artists go, they’ve always been multidimensional to the core audience.”

The move to the reality show circuit comes on the heels of other in-your-face rappers testing the mainstream waters of film and television.

Ice Cube, the former NWA member who had less than kind words for law enforcement and others in his raps, has courted family audiences in the last few years with slapstick fare such as “Are We There Yet?” and “Are We Done Yet?”

Rapper and former stripper Eve had makeup applied to hide her trademark claw tattoos on her chest when she played a fashion designer in her UPN sitcom “Eve.”

Joseph Simmons, the Run in the pioneering group Run-DMC, was one of the first rappers to move from records to reality when he and his large family first appeared in “Run’s House,” which showed his transformation from rapper to reverend. The series just started its fourth season on MTV.

Though it may be more than surreal for viewers to see Salt-N-Pepa in disharmony or to imagine Snoop Dogg following in the footsteps of pullover-sweater wearing Fred MacMurray or Robert Young, forces behind some of the series say these shows represent not only a natural evolution for the artists but also universal stories that connect to r wider audiences.

The Snoop Dogg show, for instance, will downplay the rapper’s more notorious side. Said Ted Harbert, president of E! Entertainment: “Snoop admits to some of those negative things, but he does have a wife and family and coaches a boys football team. He says of that other stuff, ‘That’s just part of my life.’ I was really taken by him, and I decided there in the room where I met him, ‘We’ve got to do this show.’ ”

Asked about the contrast between his former and current images, Lorenzo said, “I’m really not concerned with a gangster image. ‘Gotti’ is a nickname, Murder Inc. is a hot name. No one is consumed with being a gangsta or trying to uphold that image. I’m beyond that. My trial happened and I dealt with that. Now I’m consumed with taking care of my family and being a musical person.”

Initial hesitation

Although Abrego was convinced that Lorenzo’s story would make compelling TV, he said the producer initially resisted becoming involved with the series. He was protective of his nickname and his label, and “he said, ‘If I come off wack, it could hurt my entire image.’ I told him that hip-hop was difficult to translate to a broad TV audience and that we would have to bring it this other element. I said, ‘You’re a great family man; you have issues like everyone has.’ I likened it to ‘The Sopranos,’ where this guy is the head of a crime family, but the focus is on his family life. That’s when he said, ‘I get it.’ ”

As for the “Salt-N-Pepa Show,” James said she wanted to find a way to continue to work with her partner, who is still bitter that James quit the group suddenly when they were still popular.

“I embrace Salt-N-Pepa, and I’m not ashamed of anything that we did,” she said. “But I was a person expressing myself in my 20s. I’m a Christian now. I’ve had a transformation. Young people are so delusional about the music industry, and being irresponsible is very popular. I left that life and found a better life focused on things that are more important, like family and God.”

James and Denton said that doing the reality show is a mixed blessing.

Said Denton, “We were edgy and provocative. We were role models. But we removed a lot of that material when we became parents. We’re still figuring it out. I’m hoping for a new album, and women still look to us for enlightenment.”

--

greg.braxton@latimes.com