Little somethin for my godson Elijah and a little girl named Corinne [Verse 1] Some say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots I give a holla to my sisters on welfare 2Pac cares, if dont nobody else care And, I know they like to beat you down a lot When you come around the block, brothers clown a lot But please dont cry, dry your eyes, never let up Forgive but dont forget, girl, keep your head up And when he tells you you aint nothin, dont believe him And if he cant learn to love you, you should leave him Cause sister, you dont need him And I aint tryin to gas ya 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 its time to kill for our women Time to heal our women, be real to our women And if we dont well have a race of babies That will hate the ladies that make the babies And since a man cant 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 youre fed up ladies, but keep your head up [Refrain x2] Keep ya head up, ooh, child, things are gonna get easier Keep ya head up, ooh, child, thingsll get brighter [Verse 2] Aiyyo, I remember Marvin Gaye used to sing to me He had me feelin like black was the thing to be And suddenly the ghetto didnt 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 the local crew and had a smoke or two And I realize Momma 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 Id rock the mic and make it to the bright screen Im tryin to make a dollar out of fifteen cents Its hard to be legit and still pay the rent And in the end it seems Im headin for the pen I try to find my friends but theyre blowin in the wind Last night my buddy lost his whole family Its gonna take the man in me to conquer this insanity It seems the rainll never let up I try to keep my head up and still keep from gettin wet up You know its funny when it rains it pours They got money for wars but cant feed the poor Say there aint no hope for the youth and the truth is It aint no hope for the future And then they wonder why we crazy I blame my mother for turning my brother into a crack baby We aint meant to survive cause its a setup And even though youre fed up Huh, ya got to keep your head up [Refrain x2] [Verse 3] And uh, to all the ladies havin babies on they own I know its kinda rough and youre feelin all alone Daddys 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, Im sure And if you fall, stand tall and come back for more Cause aint nothin worse than when your son Wants to know why his daddy dont love him no mo You cant complain you was dealt this Hell of a hand without a man, feelin helpless Because theres too many things for you to deal with Dyin inside, but outside youre looking fearless While tears is rollin down your cheeks Ya steady hopin things dont fall down this week Cause if it did, you couldnt take it, and dont blame me I was given this world I didnt make it And now my sons gettin older and older and cold From havin the world on his shoulders While the rich kids is drivin Benz Im still tryin to hold on to surviving friends And its crazy, it seems itll never let up, but Please, you got to keep your head up
woman, head, keep, make, baby