| "Keep Ya Head Up" | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by 2Pac | ||||||||
| from the album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z. | ||||||||
| B-side | Rebel of the Underground I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto |
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| Released | October 28, 1993 | |||||||
| Format | 12" single | |||||||
| Recorded | 1992 | |||||||
| Genre | Conscious hip hop, Political hip hop | |||||||
| Length | 4:22 | |||||||
| Label | Interscope | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Tupac Shakur | |||||||
| Producer | DJ Daryl | |||||||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||||||
| 2Pac singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Keep Ya Head Up" is a late 1993 hit by Tupac Shakur. #11 in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs, with "Dear Mama" voted #4.[1]
It was first released in Shakur's 1993 album Strictly 4 My N.I.G.G.A.Z., later appearing after his death in 1996 in his Greatest Hits compilation. A "sequel" to the song, Baby Don't Cry (Keep Ya Head Up II) was released in 2Pac's posthumous album Still I Rise in 1999.
The beat is sampled from Zapp & Roger's "Be Alright" and the chorus is sampled from The Five Stairsteps' "O-o-h Child", but originally it was sampled from Big Daddy Kane's "Prince of Darkness". The song peaked at #2 on the U.S. Rap chart, #7 on the Hip Hop/R&B chart and #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It features Dave Hollister and is dedicated to Latasha Harlins.
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The video opens up with the words "Dedicated to the memory of Latasha Harlins, it's still on", in reference to the L.A. Riots. 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 seen holding a young child. At times the video shows scenes of what Shakur is rapping about. The music video also features Shakur's childhood friend Jada Pinkett Smith.
CDS - maxi single
| Chart (1993) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100[2] | 12 |
| US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[3] | 7 |
The same beat was used the year before on southern rapper Big Mello's album Bone Hard Zaggin.
This song was also used by South Central Cartel "Gangsta Love"
The song was also covered by Lyfe Jennings and released on his 2006 album, The Phoenix.
The song is also used in the soundtrack of the movie Freedom Writers.
The song was also performed live by Nas at the MTV Rap Memorial in 2005 and at VH1's Hip Hop Honors in tribute to Shakur in 2004.
The title of the song was mentioned on Ludacris' verse on Usher's song, "She Don't Know" on his 2010 album Raymond vs. Raymond.
Lil Wayne also revealed that for the acoustic-driven “How To Love,” he pulled inspiration from late rapper Tupac Shakur’s inspirational 1993 hit, “Keep Ya Head Up” and said “That song is just sweeping the world. It’s touching every woman, that’s what it was for,” he said. “It was like Tupac had ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ and it was a message to women and little girls across the world just to keep your head up even though things are hard.[4]