Keep Ya Head Up

Russel Simmons, considered to be one of the pioneers of hip-hop music (Run DMC), says, “There is no question that sexism in hip-hop videos is a reflection of how sexist men are in the world today” (Byrd). This is because of a common theme found in most hip-hop lyrics and videos. Women are constantly referred to as bitches, hoes, tricks, and many other degrading names. In videos, women are typically shown dancing around half naked and sometimes even worse. The problem this causes in society is the message it delivers to listeners and viewers. The message delivered is that it is not wrong to treat all women this way. This message is being implanted in more and more men of all ages each day. In a song called “Keep Ya Head Up,” Tupac Shakur raps about the mistreatment women face each day and calls for men to change their actions with women. A website for the National Organization for Women describes this song as “some of the most black women-friendly lyrics I have ever heard in a rap song.“ This paper will focus on the negative influence our society gets from sexist lyrics and why the lyrics from Tupac’s song, “Keep Ya Head Up,” is a vital message needed for a change to be made in society.
In an article written by Ayana Byrd and Akiba Solomon, they talk about how black women are represented negatively in the hip-hop culture. “In videos we are bikini-clad sisters gyrating around fully clothed grinding brothers like Vegas strippers on meth” (Byrd). This obviously is not how women want to be represented. Feminist from the first and second wave movement would go crazy if they were around to see this behavior. “The damage of this
imbalanced portrayal of Black women is impossible to measure. An entire generation of Black girls are being raised on these narrow images. And as the messages and images are broadcast globally, they have become the lens through which the world now sees us. This cannot continue.” (Byrd). As I continued to read the article, I could really feel the anger and hurt these women have encountered in their own lives. Also in the article, they interviewed a senior from Spelman College who reflects about the negative impact she has heard. “I know people who've been on exchange programs to another country, say South Africa or Brazil, and they've had experiences in which people have approached them, thinking that they were prostitutes or that they were sexually open just because of the images that they have of American Black women” (Byrd). Reading this story proves that a lot of people who hear hip-hop music feel that this is how women want to be treated. Eric K. Watts explains “in song after song, black women are assumed to be ‘skeezers’ or ‘hoodratz.’ And so, a street-oriented young man may view a woman as a pawn to be played in the larger chess game for respect” (498). Watts believes that most songs encourage female abuse (498).
From only these two examples, it is clear to see that there is a problem with how women are treated in our society and that blame should be put on the rappers who write about it and show us said mistreatments in their videos. The reason why so many women, black women especially, are looked down on is that someone who is making millions of dollars makes it seem as if they are only successful because they treated women that way.
Now, before I get into why Tupac’s song delivers a positive message and the importance behind it, I would like to give a little history of his life. The following information is from a biography written by Jamal Joseph titled Tupac Shakur Legacy. Tupac was raised by a single mother, Afeni Skakur. His mother was part of the Black Panthers and was actually the highest ranked woman leader for the New York chapter. When Afeni was pregnant with Tupac, she spent most of the pregnancy in jail awaiting trial for a case that could have sent her to jail for the rest of her life. It was only 34 days before Tupac’s birth that Afeni, defending herself in court, was found not guilty for her charges. Growing up, Tupac excelled in school. Tupac attended the Baltimore School for the Arts with Jada Pinkett. At home, however, Tupac’s life was not like the lives of his classmates. Tupac, his mother, and sister were living in poverty. His mother struggled working two jobs and battled an addiction to crack cocaine. Tupac knew he was going to have to work hard to be someone in this world and the answer was in his poetry. Tupac’s motivation and fight to record his lyrics came when he became homeless due to his mother’s uncontrollable addiction. Experiencing first hand what it is like to be raised in poverty with a single mother made it easy for Tupac to want to tell his story through his lyrics. “He had experienced a life filled with contradictions. The only hypocrisy would be to pretend they didn’t exist” (Joseph).
Tupac’s “Keep Ya Head Up” is “a soulful song of encouragement for young mothers and women struggling to make it” (Joseph). To help my argument I will put the lyrics of the first verse from the song:
Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juiceI say the darker the flesh then the deeper the rootsI give a holler to my sisters on welfareTupac cares, and don't nobody else careAnd uhh, I know they like to beat ya down a lotWhen you come around the block brothas clown a lotBut please don't cry, dry your eyes, never let upForgive but don't forget, girl keep your head upAnd when he tells you you ain't nuttin don't believe himAnd if he can't learn to love you you should leave himCause sista you don't need himAnd I ain't tryin to gas ya up, I just call em how I see emYou know it makes me unhappy (what's that)When brothas make babies, and leave a young mother to be a pappyAnd since we all came from a womanGot our name from a woman and our game from a womanI wonder why we take from our womenWhy we rape our women, do we hate our women?I think it's time to kill for our womenTime to heal our women, be real to our womenAnd if we don't we'll have a race of babiesThat will hate the ladies, that make the babiesAnd since a man can't make oneHe has no right to tell a woman when and where to create oneSo will the real men get upI know you're fed up ladies, but keep your head up

Tupac is delivering a powerful message here that there needs to be change in how we treat women. Instead of encouraging men to take advantage of women or referring to them as a bitch or hoe, he is saying we need to start respecting and treating women as equals. Tupac tells women that if the guy they are with cannot do this then leave because you are just as strong and capable of taking care of yourself without him. To me, the most empowering part of his song is when he says that we all came from a woman and proceeds to question why it is men feel they have the right to take, hate, and rape women. At the end of this verse, he tells the “real” men to get up. By saying this, he is telling everyone that you are not a man if you continue to treat women poorly. To be a real man you have to respect and love women as you would yourself. Tupac also sends a message to women that they have to respect themselves and to not back down and let men bring them down. Tupac encourages women to remain strong because things will get better. Because more and more songs are made degrading women, negative messages continue to influence society’s view on women. In order for society to change how they treat women, lyrics, like Tupac’s, are important. With more woman positive lyrics, kids growing up will not think they are suppose to go out and hurt women. They will not go around referring to women as bitches, sluts, or any other derogatory term. They will not see women as only a sex target but instead as more. Artist in the hip-hop culture all say they want to make a difference because they have all experienced how hard it was growing up the way they did. They all complain about: growing up in poverty without a dad, seeing people die or get raped, and having to live a life selling drugs or participating in other illegal activities. They also comment on how this is not the way things should be. If they all really feel this way, they should consider the influence music had on them when they were growing up. If they do this, maybe they will be more willing to produce a song like “Keep Ya Head Up” and really try to make a difference.