2Pac - Keep Ya' Head Up
Keep Ya Head Up" is a late 1993 hit by Tupac Shakur. It addresses issues concerning lack of respect toward the female gender, especially poor black women. It has a very positive message and is often used as an example of Shakur's softer side.
Many consider it to be one of the deepest rap songs ever made and is often referenced by other artists in their work, building Shakur's persona as a very conscious and influential rapper, voted #11 in About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs, with "Dear Mama" voted #4.
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 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.