Keep Ya Head Up

And when he tells you you ain’t nothin’, don’t believe him / And if he can’t learn to love you, you should leave him
Just a little something for my god son Elija 
And a little girl named Corin

Some say the blacker the berry
The sweeter the juice
I say the darker the flesh
And the deeper the roots
I give a holla to my sisters on welfare
Tupac cares
If don’t nobody else care
And uh
I know they like to beat you down a lot
When you come around the block
Brothers clown a lot
But please don’t cry
Dry your eyes, never let up
Forgive, but don’t forget, girl
Keep ya head up
And when he tells you you ain’t nothin’
Don’t believe him
And if he can’t learn to love you
You should leave him
‘Cause, sister, you don’t need him
And I ain’t tryin’ to cash up
I just call ’em how I see ’em
You know what makes me unhappy?
When brothers make babies
And leave a young mother to be a pappy
And since we all came from a woman
Got our name from a woman
And our game from a woman
I wonder why we take from our women
Why we rape our women
Do we hate our women?
I think it’s time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women
Be real to our women
And if we don’t we’ll have a race of babies
That will hate the ladies
That make the babies
And since a man can’t make one
He has no right to tell a woman
When and where to create one
So will the real men get up?
I know you’re fed up, ladies
But keep ya head up

[Chorus] (x2)
(Keep ya head up)
Ooh, child, things are gonna get easier
(Keep ya head up)
Ooh, child, things’ll get brighter

Ayo
I remember Marvin Gaye
Used to sing to me
He had me feelin’ like black was the thing to be
And suddenly the ghetto didn’t seem so tough
And though we had it rough
We always had enough
I huffed and puffed about my curfew
And broke the rules
Ran with a local crew
And had a smoke or two
I realize mama really paid the price
She nearly gave her life
To raise me right
And all I had to give her was my pipe dream
Of how I’d rock the mic 
And make it to the bright screen
I’m tryin’ to make a dollar out of fifteen cents
It’s hard to be legit 
And still pay the rent
And in the end it seems I’m headin’ for the pen
I try to find my friends
But they’re blowin’ in the wind
Last night my buddy lost his whole family
It’s gonna take the man in me 
To conquer this insanity
It seems the rain’ll never let up
I try to keep my head up
And still keep from gettin’ wet up
You know, it’s funny, when it rains it pours
They got money for wars but can’t feed the poor
Say there ain’t no hope for the youth
And the truth is 
There ain’t no hope for the future
And then they wonder why we crazy
I blame my mother
For turnin’ my brother into a crack baby
We ain’t meant to survive
‘Cause it’s a set-up
And even though you’re fed up
You got to keep ya head up

[Chorus] (x2)

And uh
To all the ladies havin’ babies on they own
I know it’s kinda rough
And you’re feelin’ all alone
Daddy’s long gone
And he left you by your lonesome
Thank the Lord for my kids
Even if nobody else want ’em
‘Cause I think we can make it
In fact, I’m sure
And if you fall
Stand tall and come back for more
‘Cause ain’t nothin’ worse than when your son
Wants to know why his daddy don’t love him no mo’
You can’t complain you was dealt this
Hell of a hand without a man
Feelin’ helpless
Because there’s too many things for you to deal with
Dyin’ inside
But outside you’re lookin’ fearless
While tears is rollin’ down your cheeks
You steady hopin’ things don’t all fall this week
‘Cause if it did, you couldn’t take it
And don’t blame me
I was given this world, I didn’t make it
And now my son’s gettin’ older and older and cold
From havin’ the world on his shoulders
While the rich kids is drivin’ Benz
I’m still tryin’ to hold on to survivin’ friends
And it’s crazy
It seems it’ll never let up
But please
You got to keep ya head up