Keep Ya Head Up Tupac Analysis Essay

ISU Task #1 – Research & Literary Analysis

Intro:

When people hear the word rap, they think money and drugs. Unfortunately, every rapper falls in to that category however some rap can be more meaningful than any song could every be. Today, I’m going to show you one rapper who falls into this stereotype.

1.Background Information

The song I selected was “Keep Ya Head Up” by Tupac Shakur or simply Tupac. Born in East Harlem, New York City was raised by his mother and did not see his father until he was much older. Tupac’s childhood was tougher than most with his mother struggling through a substance abuse and enduring the toughness of the ghettos of Brooklyn and The Bronx. Tupac attended Baltimore School of Arts. When in Baltimore, Tupac found a love for rap. Moving quite a bit, he found himself Oakland, California where he

joined a hip-hop group called Digital Underground. In 1991, Tupac released his first album, 2Pacalypse Now. Having seen quite a bit of success he released a second album, Strictly for my N.I.G.G.A.Z selling over one million copies. He had a successful career until he was unfortunately shot and killed in 1996. The song “Keep Ya Head Up” is a hip-hop/rap song. Rap songs are all about the rhyme, rhythm and are very lyrically based, which “Keep Ya Head Up” is filled with. Tupac’s inspiration was 15-year-old, Latasha Harlins who was shot and killed in Los Angeles and all the brutality towards women.
2. Speaker
The speaker of this song is Tupac because he is telling the story and message of the song. Generally, he is speaking to the women, who are going through tough times to stay positive no matter what happens. Also, he is speaking to all the men or soon to be men of how they should be treating women. He is trying to tell them how important these women are and how they are making a mistake of treating them badly.
3. Favourite Stanza or Verse
My favourite verse of the song is from 0:49 – 1:28. This particular part of the song is my favourite because it really shows how much women do and how much they give to us. It sums up the whole song very well. “And if we don’t well have a race of babies that hate the ladies that make the babies” says that when little boys grow up seeing their father disrespecting their mother, they will think its normal and continue to do so. It made me realize how important growing up with good role models is and was.
4. Theme
The theme of the song is positivity and motivation. Throughout the song, Tupac is trying to encourage women to stay positive and literally keep their heads up. This is portrayed directly in the lyrics “And if you fall, stand tall and come back for more”. He is saying no matter what happens you just have to keep going on. This theme is also shown in the chorus of the song “Keep ya head up, ohh, child, things are gonna get easier
Keep ya head up, ohh, child, things’ll get brighter”.
Tupac used his popularity to spread a very positive theme through his music.

5. Literary and Poetic Devices

“And suddenly the ghetto didn’t seem so tough
And though we had it rough, we always had enough”

The literary device is rhyme. Rhyme is used in all of Tupac’s songs and rap songs in general. This makes the song catchier and adds rhythm to the song. Rhyming is effective because we tend to remember rhyme’s more than anything. Rhyming also helps with the flow of the song because it can sound odd if there is none.
“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 its time to kill for our women
Time to heal our women, be real to our women”

The literary device is repetition. Repetition makes music easier to understand and to remember. It engages the listener into the music. Repetition is also used to emphasize a certain part of the song. In this case, Tupac repeats the word women emphasizing all the things that are happening to women.

“Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice
I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots”

The literary device is symbolism. He is saying the darker your skin is the stronger your heritage is. With this symbol of a berry is telling them to be proud of who they are. This is effective because it gives the listener a comparison between the symbol and the actual thing. The symbols also help to convey the message of the song.
ISU Task #2 – Music Video Analysis

1.Narrative

A) I think that the music video for “Keep Ya Head Up” is a mixture between narrative and montage. I think that this music video is a montage because there are many separate events that help tell the story. Such as the scene where the group of men are harassing the girl or when a man is fighting with a pregnant lady. All these different scenes are showing to the viewer the things Tupac is talking about.
“And, I know they like to beat you down a lot
When you come around the block, brother clown a lot”
The music video is a narrative as well because all the scenes that they show all relate back to the same story of treating women badly. They show related events that tell the story.

B) The story of the video is realistic because it is a real issue in the world.

The message of the video as I’ve said multiple times is treating women better. In the music video in particular it shows how one person can change the way many people can act because Tupac is teaching people the lesson. In the music video he is there with a little boy. Which is showing that what is happening now will affect the generations to come after them.

2. Audience Response

C) Listening to the song and watching the music video makes me feel bad for women and disgusted with the behavior of these men that Tupac is talking about. It makes me feel bad for women because all women deserve to be respected the same as all men especially after all that they do and give to us. I am also disgusted with the behavior of men because they degrade the women who made them who they are today. But at the same time it makes me happy, that some people like Tupac realize the problem and want a stop to it.

D) One aspect of the song’s lyrics I liked was in the second verse. When he says

“It seems the rain’ll never let up

I try to keep my head up and still keep from getting’ wet

up
You know its funny when it rains it pours
They got money for wars but can’t feed the poor”

I like this part because it was such a strong meaning and really makes you think how ridiculous somethings in life are.

One aspect of the music video that I feel could be improved is I feel that they had too many scenes on Tupac. Instead of having the camera on Tupac, they could have had more events help tell the story. I think that the amount of scenes on Tupac were taking away from the story of the video.

3. Camera Shots and Camera Angles:

E) The moment I chose is at 4:17 where a son is giving his mom some flowers. The camera shot that is used in this moment is medium long shot. You can see from knee up and you can see the setting.

F) The camera angle in this moment is eye level because it is as if we were looking at the scene from the same level as the two mom and son.

G) I think the director chose to use the medium long shot and the eye level camera angle because the medium long shot lets us see most of the subject and the setting. I think this is the most effective camera shot for that reason. The camera angle lets us feel like we are actually in the scene because its our eye level

4. Values

A) The first value about life in the music video is sacrifice for the people who sacrifice for you. I think this is important for this music video because women give birth, take care of men and as Tupac says
“got our name from a woman and our game from a woman”
why should they do all that if they don’t get anything in exchange. The least thing that they deserve is respect. The second value about life in the music video is disregard all the hate and keep moving forward. I think this is important in this music video because with all the hate women get from men they should look past that and take the positive and move forward.
“Thank the Lord for my kids, even if nobody else want ‘em
Cause I think we can make it, in fact, I’m sure “
Tupac says be thankful for your kids and be happy you have them. In the music video, we see a son giving his mom flowers showing that women do get love from one place or another.

5. Setting:

B) Throughout the whole music video there are 4 general locations. What seems to be near some train tracks, a neighborhood, a woman’s house and a store. The position of the subjects is moved throughout the music video however they stay in the general vicinity of these 4.

H) The setting contributes to the music video’s story by showing that it is happening in an everyday setting. For example, the guys in the car could happen any day so it makes it more realistic and less staged.

6. Performer Image and Costume:

C) In the music video, Tupac is seen wearing a snapback hat that is turned around and a striped orange t-shirt. Overall, I would say that he is dressed very causally. Which adds to the realism of the video. It shows that he is just an average guy spreading a good message.

D) Most rappers are amused to be gangsters, delinquents etc. But I think that Tupac’s public image is that he speaks his mind and addresses many issues in the world. I think that because he speaks his mind he has a lot more meaning in his songs which gives him that much of an edge over anyone else. He dressed very casually which makes him seem very down to earth and real whereas some singers act fake in front of a camera.

Conclusion: Now you should realize that not all rap is about money and drugs. Tupac speaks his mind and his mind is always thinking of the social problems in the world.