KEEP YA HEAD UP

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um7-aXEhMfM]

"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 fromBig 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 100chart.

It features Dave Hollister.

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 Jada Pinkett Smith.