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

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

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

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

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 8601-defined "Monday-first" convention, it is the fifth ...

'', starring Dre's former

N.W.A N.W.A (an abbreviation for Niggaz Wit Attitudes) was an American hip-hop group formed in Compton, California in 1987. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the great ...

bandmate,

Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...

and

Chris Tucker Christopher Tucker (born August 31, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. 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 1990 ...

. 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 Cube, MC Ren, Eazy-E, Master P, Snoop Dogg, Mos Def, Silkk the Shocker, Jay-Z, Paris, Mack 10, 504 Boyz, Brotha Lynch Hung, ...

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. D ...

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 stat ...

chart and peaked at number ten on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was certified gold 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/o ...

on May 10, 1995, and sold 700,000 copies domestically. It interpolates " Funk You Up" by The Sequence from their 1980 single released under Sugar Hill. F. Gary Gray directed the music video for the song. The song was co-produced by

Sam Sneed Samuel D. Anderson (born February 29, 1968), known professionally as Sam Sneed, is an American record producer and rapper. He originally got his start working as a producer for K-Solo and the Hit Squad. Biography Early years In 1993, he was s ...

Critical reception

Dr. Bayyan from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is 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 online ...

'' 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." Cathi Unsworth from ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' said, "Dr Dre practices what he preaches in one long reeling reefer high that pulses like the first narcotic rush that brings on the weekend. A smoothly subversive operator." Keith Cameron from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' commented, "The vibes from the crib are up tp the regulatory slink norm, the gel chorus keeps matters literal ("''Ring ding dong/A ring-a-ding-ding-ding-dong''"), and regardless of how good the film is, it's hard to imagine

Cube A cube or regular hexahedron is a three-dimensional space, three-dimensional solid object in geometry, which is bounded by six congruent square (geometry), square faces, a type of polyhedron. It has twelve congruent edges and eight vertices. It i ...

coming up with a line as chucklesome as Dre's: "''Your chances of jackin' me are slim, Gl'Cos I rock from summer 'til Santa comes down the chimney''"."

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Keep Their Heads Ringin'" was directed by American film director, film producer, and music video director 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,

Paula Jai Parker Paula Jai Parker (born August 19, 1969) is an American actress. She is best known for her supporting roles in the films ''Friday'' (1995), '' Sprung'' (1997), '' Why Do Fools Fall in Love'' (1998), ''Phone Booth'' (2002), ''Hustle & Flow'' (2005), ...

and

Nia Long Nia Talita Long ( ; born October 30, 1970) is an American actress. Best known for her work in Black cinema, Long rose to prominence after starring in the film '' Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), and for her portrayal of Beullah "Lisa" Wilkes on the N ...

. 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 the Bronx. He rose to prominence as part of the ...

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

and Tiny Lister *

Angie Stone Angela Laverne Stone (née Brown; December 18, 1961 – March 1, 2025) was an American singer-songwriter, rapper, actress, and record producer. With a career spanning over four decades, she has been credited with revolutionizing the sound of Ol ...

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