Keep Ya Head Up
"Keep Ya Head Up" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by 2Pac featuring Dave Hollister | ||||
from the album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z... | ||||
B-side | "I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto", "Rebel of the Underground" | |||
Released | October 28, 1993 | |||
Recorded | 1992[1] | |||
Genre | Hip hop, R&B | |||
Length | 4:23 | |||
Label | Interscope | |||
Songwriter(s) | Tupac Shakur | |||
Producer(s) | DJ Daryl | |||
2Pac singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
"Keep Ya Head Up"
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Music video | ||||
"Keep Ya Head Up" on YouTube | ||||
"Keep Ya Head Up" is a song by American rapper Tupac Shakur from his second studio album, Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z...(1993). It was released on October 28, 1993 as the album's third single.
Background
The song features R&B singer Dave Hollister and is dedicated to Shakur's godson Elijah, and Corin, daughter of Salt from Salt-N-Pepa[2] — the two had met through Treach of Naughty by Nature.[3] The song focuses on black womanhood.[2] Additionally, it makes reference to Latasha Harlins, who was shot by a Korean shopkeeper in 1991, increasing tensions between the Black and Korean communities of Los Angeles before the 1992 Los Angeles riots.[2] The music video for the song opens up with the words "Dedicated to the memory of Latasha Harlins, it's still on."
Production and release
The beat is sampled from Zapp's "Be Alright" and the chorus is taken from The Five Stairsteps' "O-o-h Child". It was first released in Shakur's 1993 album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. later appearing after his death in 1998 in his Greatest Hits compilation. A "sequel" to the song, "Baby Don't Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II)" was released on 2Pac's posthumous album Still I Rise in 1999. The song was featured in the Tupac biopic All Eyez on Me.
Music video
The video has a basic format with Shakur rapping in the middle of a circle surrounded by a crowd of people and in some scenes he is seen holding a young child. His mother Afeni Shakur and close friend Jada Pinkett Smith made cameo appearances in the video.[4]
Critical reception
Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bruce Pollock | United States | The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944–2000 | 2005 | * |
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame | The Songs That Shaped Rock | 2011 | * | |
Alyssa Rosenberg of Brisbane Times felt the song "weaved together a critique of negligent fathers, an argument for abortion rights and a sharp analysis of misogyny."[5]
Track listing
CDS – maxi single
- "Keep Ya Head Up" (LP version)
- "Keep Ya Head Up" (Vibe Tribe remix)
- "Keep Ya Head Up" (Madukey remix)
- "Rebel of the Underground"
- "I Wonda If Heaven's Got a Ghetto"
Charts
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Certifications
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
United Kingdom (BPI)[11] | Silver | 200,000‡ |
United States (RIAA)[12] | Platinum | 1,000,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. |
Credits
- Engineer – Bob Tucker (tracks: A2, B2), Norman "Slam" Whitfield, Jr.* (tracks: A2, B2)
- Engineer [Remix] – Eric Flickinger (tracks: B1), Franklin Purrell (tracks: B1)
- Mixed By – D. Nettlesbey* (tracks: A2), Norman "Slam" Whitfield, Jr.* (tracks: A2)
- Producer – D-Flow Production Squad, The* (tracks: B2), D.J. Daryl* (tracks: A1, B1)
- Remix [Additional] – Norman "Slam" Whitfield, Jr.* (tracks: B2)
Remix,
- Producer [Additional Production] – Bryant "Moe Doe" Johnson* (tracks: B1), Battlecat* (tracks: B2), Howard Johnson (2) (tracks: B2), Kris Kellow* (tracks: B2), Lea Reis (tracks: B1), Paul Arnold (tracks: B2), Vibe Tribe (10) (tracks: A2)
- Vocals – Black Angel, The (tracks: A1, B1), Money B (2) (tracks: B2), Shockalock (tracks: B2)
References
- ^ Sal Manna. "Official Biography". Retrieved November 4, 2019.
- ^ a b c "The story behind Tupac Shakur's 'Keep Ya Head Up'". hiphophero.com. 2022-01-24. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ "2Pac, Salt's Daughter And The Story of Keep Ya Head Up". 2PacLegacy.net. 2021-06-04. Retrieved 2023-03-29.
- ^ Pough, Gwendolyn D. (2015-12-01). Check It While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip-Hop Culture, and the Public Sphere. Northeastern University Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-55553-854-5.
- ^ "5 songs politicians should listen to before they're allowed to talk about hip-hop". Brisbane Times. April 9, 2015.
- ^ "2Pac Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard.
- ^ "2Pac Chart History (Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs)". Billboard.
- ^ "2Pac Chart History (Hot Rap Songs)". Billboard.
- ^ "Billboard Top 100 – 1994". Billboardtop100of.com. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
- ^ "Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs – Year-End 1994". Billboard. Retrieved July 3, 2021.
- ^ "British single certifications – 2Pac – Keep Ya Head Up". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
- ^ "American single certifications – 2 Pac – Keep Ya Head Up". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved October 28, 2020.
External links
- "Keep Ya Head Up" music video
- v
- t
- e
- The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory
- R U Still Down? (Remember Me)
- Still I Rise
- Until the End of Time
- Better Dayz
- Loyal to the Game
- Pac's Life
- 2Pac Live
- Live at the House of Blues
- Greatest Hits
- Beginnings: The Lost Tapes 1988–1991
- The Prophet: The Best of the Works
- Tupac: Resurrection
- The Prophet Returns
- Best of 2Pac
- Nothing but Trouble (soundtrack)
- Sons of the P
- Juice (soundtrack)
- Poetic Justice (soundtrack)
- Above the Rim (soundtrack)
- Gridlock'd (soundtrack)
- Gang Related (soundtrack)
- A 2Pac Tribute: Dare 2 Struggle
- The Rose That Grew from Concrete
- The Rose, Vol. 2
- "Brenda's Got a Baby"
- "If My Homie Calls"
- "Trapped"
- "Holler If Ya Hear Me"
- "I Get Around"
- "Keep Ya Head Up"
- "Papa'z Song"
- "Cradle to the Grave"
- "Dear Mama"
- "So Many Tears"
- "Temptations"
- "California Love"
- "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted"
- "How Do U Want It"
- "I Ain't Mad at Cha"
- "Toss It Up"
- "To Live & Die in LA"
- "Hail Mary"
- "Wanted Dead or Alive"
- "I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto"
- "Do for Love"
- "Changes"
- "Unconditional Love"
- "Baby Don't Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II)"
- "Until the End of Time"
- "Letter 2 My Unborn"
- "Thugz Mansion"
- "Still Ballin'"
- "Runnin' (Dying to Live)"
- "One Day at a Time (Em's Version)"
- "Thugs Get Lonely Too"
- "Ghetto Gospel"
- "Untouchable"
- "Pac's Life"
- "Playa Cardz Right"
- "I Don't Give a Fuck"
- "Runnin' from tha Police"
- "Ambitionz az a Ridah"
- "All Eyez on Me"
- "Hit 'Em Up"
- "Are U Still Down"
- "Panther Power"
- "Gotta Get Mine"
- "Smile"
- "Playa Cardz Right"
- The Rose That Grew from Concrete
- Holler If Ya Hear Me
- Biggie & Tupac
- Tupac: Resurrection
- Tupac: Assassination
- Dear Mama
- Yaki Kadafi
- Kastro
- Napoleon
- E.D.I. Mean
- Hussein Fatal
- Mussolini
- Komani
- Young Noble
- Outlawz
- Digital Underground
- Afeni Shakur
- Assata Shakur
- Mopreme Shakur
- Mutulu Shakur
- Thug Life
- Death Row Records
- East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry
- Niccolò Machiavelli
- Orlando Anderson
- Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts
- All Eyez on Me (film)
- Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.
- City of Lies