“keep your head up” sample lyrics:

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 ya 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 you ain’t nuttin don’t believe him
And if he can’t learn to love you you should leave him
Cause sista you don’t need him
And I ain’t tryin to gas ya up, I just call em how I see em
You know it makes me unhappy (what’s that)
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

The songs “changes” and “dear mama” are amazing as well.

An amazing reggae choice would be “one day” by jewish reggae artist Matisyahu

A sample of lyrics:

sometimes in my tears I drown
but I never let it get me down
so when negativity surrounds
I know some day it’ll all turn around
because
(chorus)
all my life I’ve been waiting for
I’ve been praying for
for the people to say
that we don’t wanna fight no more
they’ll be no more wars
and our children will play
one day, one day, one daaaay x2
one day this all will change
treat people the same
stop with the violence
down with the hate
one day we’ll all be free
and proud to be
under the same sun
singing songs of freedom like
(CHORUS)
all my life I’ve been waiting for
I’ve been praying for
for the people to say
that we don’t wanna fight no more
they’ll be no more wars
and our children will play
one day x6

Please show more respect to hip-hop and its culture and put something other than wierd Al up please. If you arent sure, do a little bit of research first. There is a reason 2pac is loved as much as he is today all these years after his untimely death. Not all rap is about women, cars, drugs and violence you know. Mr. Shakur was extremely intelligent, cultured, brave in his honesty, and talented in many ways beyond music. Not only is he ovverrated, but his parodies are only funny if you are inder 12 years old.

2pacs poems from when he was 15 years old:

“I CRY”

Sometimes when I’m alone
I cry,
Cause I am on my own.
The tears I cry are bitter and warm.
They flow with life but take no form
I cry because my heart is torn.
I find it difficult to carry on.
If I had an ear to confiding,
I would cry among my treasured friend,
But who do you know that stops that long,
To help another carry on.
The world moves fast and it would rather pass by.
Then to stop and see what makes one cry,
So painful and sad.
And sometimes…
I cry
And no one cares about why.

“In The Depths of Solitude”

A young heart with an old soul
How can there be peace?
How can I be in the depths of solitude
When there are two inside of me?
This duo in me causes the perfect opportunity
To learn and live twice as fast
As those who accept simplicity…

“The Rose that Grew From Concrete ”

Did you hear about the rose that grew from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature’s law is wrong it learned to walk without having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping it’s dreams, it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete when no one else ever cared.

Here is the link to more 2pac poems from his notebook from 15 years old:

http://www.csun.edu/~kcj39325/tupacpoem.html

I like Joe Cocker’s version of “With a Little Help From My Friends” a lot too, but the Beatles recorded the original. I first heard the song as the theme song to the TV show “The Wonder Years,” which was an awesome show (at least for the first 2 or 3 seasons). The main characters were the same age as I was and that was cool.

Here is a link to the video from “Forever Young,” by Rod Stewart.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHzMCFgTid0

I once saw a mom recite all the lyrics of the song to her daughter at her Bat Mitzvah; it was really nice.

I LOATHE John Lennon’s “Imagine”. His ideal world is a communist utopia: no religion, no possessions, no countries, no heaven, no hell, no God, nothing to kill or die for. I would rather die than live in such a world.

How can anybody not know “Forever Young” by Rod Stewart??? Do you have a radio???

One of my favorites: “Back in the High Life Again” by Steve Winwood. “I could not ask for more” by Edwin McCain. “I hope you dance” by Lee Ann Womack.

Sometimes just what the doctor ordered is to listen to a REALLY sad song. As Sir Elton said, it just feels so good to hurt so bad.

If I think of any others, I’ll add them later?