Little something for my godson Elijah and a little girl named Corinne Some say the blacker the berry the sweeter the juice I say the darker the flesh then the deeper the roots I give a holler to my sisters on welfare Tupac cares if don't nobody else care And uhh I know they like to beat you down a lot When you come around the block brothas clown a lot But please don't cry dry your eyes never let up Forgive but don't forget girl keep your head up And when he tells you ain't nutting don't believe And if he can't learn to love you you should leave Cause sister you don't need And I ain't trying to gas you up I just call them how I see You know it makes me unhappy When brothas 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 your head up Keep you head up oooo child things are gonna get easier Keep you head up oooo child things are gonna get brighter Keep you head up oooo child things are gonna get easier Keep you head up oooo child things are gonna get brighter Aiyyo I remember Marving Gaye used to sing ta me He had me feeling like black was the thing to be And suddenly tha 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 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 I'd rock the mic and make it to tha bright screen I'm trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents It's hard to be legit and still pay tha rent And in the end it seems I'm heading for tha pen I try and find my friends but they're blowing 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 will never let up I try to keep my head up and still keep from getting 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 it ain't 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 ain't meant to survive cause it's a setup And even though you're fed up Huh you got to keep your head up oooo child things are gonna get easier Keep you head up oooo child things are gonna get brighter Keep you head up oooo child things are gonna get easier Keep you head up oooo child things are gonna get brighter And uhh To all the ladies having babies on they own I know it's kinda rough and you're feeling all alone Daddy's long gone and he left you by your lonesome Thank the Lord for my kids even if nobody else want them 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 nutting worse than when your son wants to know why his daddy don't love him no more You can't complain you was dealt this hell of a hand without a man feeling helpless Because too many things for you to deal with Dying inside but outside you're looking fearless While da tears is rolling down your cheeks You steady hoping things don't all down 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 getten older and older and cold From having the world on his shoulders While the rich kids is driving Benz I'm still trying to hold on to my surviving friends And it's crazy it seems it'll never let up but please you got to keep your head up