Just a Thought about…. Tupac

“Keep Ya Head Up” Through the Feminist Lens

https://youtu.be/SHVzWMFMH6Y?si=wPMmYkbH9QUS8yOe

By : Brielle Smith

Tupac was speaking out the inequalities and fights women go through when other rappers didn’t talk about it. The song “Keep ya Head Up” is not just a lyrical masterpiece in itself but you can look at it through a feminist lens. The song is not just encouraging and upbeat, but it’s real. 

Tupac focuses on highlighting the experiences of women through many ways but specific to this gender. Many things he speaks about are how black women specifically face oppression that is ignored by society and media. This song is different because instead of degrading women and rapping about their bodies or what they act like, he encouraged women to keep going. He also encourages other people to love black women instead of tearing them down. 

“I realize Mama really paid the price, She nearly gave her life to raise me right”. 

This perfectly aligns with what Klages speaks about in Literary Theory. “Women must write herself”. This is the norm of many single mothers living in certain neighborhoods. Many women give their all to motherhood and aren’t rewarded or given credit for it, especially single mothers. There is a stigma that women who are single moms are a mess, need a man to help them, or are criticized. While single dads are hero’s, and praised for doing all the same things a mom does. This touched on feminist ideas to dismantle these double standards on women.

“Keep Ya Head Up”

Not only is this the title but it’s the most important four words in the song. It shows resilience and shows how women need to stick together in order to rise up and do for themselves. It doesn’t just show women as struggling, but as “we’re struggling but it’s going to get better”.

“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”

I think in a time when no one, especially no man was speaking about how women are treated and the things they go through, Tupac spoke up about it. We can relate this line back to the poststructualist feminist theory by Helene Cixous. She says “to speak or write from the “feminine” position creates a “rupture” in the Derridean sense.” This is exactly what I believe Tupac wanted to do. He is speaking about women’s problems creating a rupture because in the 90s it’s only women speaking about women. It is only women fighting for their rights, which hearing a public figure who doesn’t typically rap about these things causes a ripple in the country and continues to do so in today’s society. This song was a way to open people’s eyes to the fact that it was okay for a man to speak out about such things. 

This song is important because it shows realness but it shows that women have support. It a very straightforward and simple song but through different lens is can make it so much easier to see and understand literary theory through it. 

We just need to support women, it’s that easy, right? 

I don’t know , Just a Thought

“Keep ya Head Up”, Tupac Shakur, 1993