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"I always loved his music, and the I spent with him on the set of 'Above the Rim,' he impressed me in every way," Pinkins says of her brief time with the rapper.

Starring Saul Williams, Christopher Jackson, Saycon Sengbloh and John Earl Jelks, Holler is a non-biographical story that uses Shakur's music and poetry to tell an original tale.

"Never before has this story been told on Broadway, and never has this kind of energy been on Broadway," says Tony Award winner Tonya Pinkins, who stars as the story's matriarch, and who appeared in the 1994 film "Above the Rim" with the late rapper. The ambitious new musical from Tony winner Kenny Leon and writer Todd Kreidler represents a first for hardcore hip hop and Broadway. "Raise Ya Head Up" and other Shakur songs like "Unconditional Love" and "Dear Mama" pepper the score of Holler If Ya Hear Me, currently playing the Palace Theatre, with words of encouragement for women amid a gritty urban tale replete with murder, prison, and a tempestuous love triangle. Listen to the brilliant ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ a song about Black womanhood dedicated to Salt’s daughter.Tupac Shakur was 22 years old when he released the anthem "Keep Ya Head Up." In the song, dedicated to Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old African-American girl shot and killed at the outset of the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Shakur implores women to know their worth, proclaiming: "And when he tells you you ain't nothin' don't believe him/And if he can't learn to love you, you should leave him/'Cause sista you don't need him." “It was something that was probably going on in his head – to go so far as to dedicate a song to Corin, concerning me – that I’m not completely aware of. “I feel like he saw me in a way that he respected and he wanted me to know that,” Salt says of the song and their relationship. One day, he called me and he was like ‘I dedicated this song to your daughter.’ I just chalked it up to… Me and Tupac have letters that I’ve never shown anyone.” “Nothing happened between us, but he met Corin a couple of times. “ had conversations where he told me he respected me,” Salt shared. His warts and all line “a bottle of juice, is no excuse” feels applicable to a whole range of Black murders and, upon rediscovering the track, it feels more pertinent than ever.īut Pac also used the first few bars of the track to pay tribute to a friend, Salt of Salt ‘N’ Pepa and her daughter as he notes: “A lil sumthin’ for my godson Elijah and a lil girl named Corin…” riots and is immortalised in Pac’s song about injustice. The murder was the flashpoint for the 1992 L.A. The song not only reflects on Pac’s troubled upbringing on the streets and the idea of systemic Black poverty but also shines a light on the murder of Latasha Harlins, who was shot and killed for putting a bottle into her backpack.

The song showcased his new direction for socially-centred songs. One such song that saw Pac really open up was his anthemic song ‘Keep Ya Head Up’. Unashamedly, he cut himself to see the blood unreservedly he taught us that the world was a dangerous place if we let it pass us by and, because of this, he became an unequivocal hero. On every song, within every album, we are given a piece of Pac. But the real reason his work is so highly respected is that he committed himself to the craft. Of course, Shakur was blessed with a natural rhythm and was more than capable of applying himself off the cuff to any situation.