"Keep Their Heads Ringin'" is a song by American rapper

Dr. Dre Andre Romelle Young (born February 18, 1965), known professionally as Dr. Dre, is an American rapper and record producer. He is the founder and CEO of Aftermath Entertainment and Beats Electronics, and previously co-founded, co-owned, and w ...

featuring vocalist Nanci Fletcher. It was the only single released from the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrac ...

of the 1995 movie ''

Friday Friday is the day of the week between Thursday and Saturday. In countries that adopt the traditional "Sunday-first" convention, it is the sixth day of the week. In countries adopting the ISO-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth d ...

'', starring

Ice Cube An ice cube is a small piece of ice, which is typically rectangular as viewed from above and trapezoidal as viewed from the side. Ice cubes are products of mechanical refrigeration and are usually produced to cool beverages. They may be p ...

and

Chris Tucker Christopher Tucker (born August 31, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. Tucker made his debut in 1992 as a stand-up performer on the HBO comedy series ''Def Comedy Jam'', where he frequently appeared on the show during the 1990s. He appe ...

. Although the soundtrack was released on

Priority Records Priority Records is an American distribution company and record label known for artists including N.W.A, Ice-T, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Big L, Silkk the Shocker and Westside Connection. It also distributed hip hop record labels including Death Row ...

Death Row Records Death Row Records is an American record label that was founded in 1991 by The D.O.C., Dr. Dre, Suge Knight, and Dick Griffey. The label became a sensation by releasing multi-platinum hip-hop albums by West Coast-based artists such as Dr. Dre ...

still owns the masters to the song. In the United States, the song topped the

Hot Rap Tracks Hot Rap Songs (formerly known as Hot Rap Tracks and Hot Rap Singles) is a chart released weekly by ''Billboard'' in the United States. It lists the 25 most popular hip-hop/rap songs, calculated weekly by airplay on rhythmic and urban radio stati ...

chart and peaked at number ten on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was

certified gold Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...

on May 10, 1995, and sold 700,000 copies domestically. It interpolates " Funk You Up" by

The Sequence The Sequence was an American female hip–hop trio from Columbia, South Carolina, who formed in 1979. The Sequence is noted as the first female hip hop trio signed to the Sugar Hill Records label in the late–1970s and early–1980s. The group ...

from their 1980 single released under Sugar Hill.

Critical reception

Dr. Bayyan from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an onli ...

'' wrote, "Well, there is no doubt that the patented "Dre funk" is present, but there's one aspect that fans will notice about this single. He concentrates more on his improved lyrical delivery rather than on killin' niggas and cheekin' ho's. Dre is one of the few rappers that doesn't have to tone down his hardcore image to gain commercial status."

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" was directed by F. Gary Gray and takes place in a plane hangar. The video contains cameo appearances from the actors of the movie ''Friday'' including

Faizon Love Faizon Andre Love (born Langston Faizon Santisima; June 14, 1968) is a Cuban-born American actor and comedian. He is best known for his roles in the comedy films '' The Meteor Man'', ''Don't Be a Menace'', ''Friday'', '' B*A*P*S'', '' Elf'', '' ...

and Nia Long. New Line offered the clip to theatres to play right before showings of ''Friday.'' It also appears as a bonus feature on the VHS and DVD releases of the film.

Track listing

* CD single / 12" vinyl # "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" (LP Version) — 5:01 # "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" (Instrumental) — 4:57 # "Take a Hit" (by Mack 10) (LP Version) — 4:34 # "Take a Hit" (by Mack 10) (Instrumental) — 4:34 * US 12" vinyl # "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" (Radio Version) — 5:02 # "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" (LP Version) — 5:01 # "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" (Instrumental) — 4:57

Personnel

*Co-producer - Sam Sneed *Engineer - Tommy D. Daugherty and Keston Wright *Keyboards - Stu "Fingas" Bullard *Producer - Dr. Dre *Chorus Sample -

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...

*Lead vocals - Nanci Fletcher *Background Vocals - Nanci Fletcher, Barbara Wilson, Dorothy Coleman *Video director - F. Gary Gray *Actors -

, Nia Long and Tiny Lister *

Angie Stone Angela Laverne Brown (born December 18, 1961) known professionally as Angie Stone, is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. She rose to fame in the late 1970s as member of the hip hop trio The Sequence. In the early 1990s ...

is credited for writing the song due to her writing to "Funk You Up". She is credited as A. Brown in the credits of the song since she did not go by

at the time she recorded "Funk You Up". Angela Brown is Angie Stone's birth name.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1995 singles Dr. Dre songs Songs written by Dr. Dre Song recordings produced by Dr. Dre Gangsta rap songs G-funk songs Friday (franchise) music