"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 ...

featuring vocalist Nanci Fletcher. It was the only

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

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 soundtrack o ...

of the 1995 movie ''Friday (1995 film), Friday'', starring Ice Cube and Chris Tucker. Although the soundtrack was released on Priority Records, Death Row Records still owns the Master recording, masters to the song. In the United States, the song topped the Hot Rap Tracks chart and peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It was RIAA certification, certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA 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 Records (rap), Sugar Hill.

Critical reception

Dr. Bayyan from ''Cashbox (magazine), Cash Box'' 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 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 Chris Tucker, Faizon Love 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 *Lead vocals - Nanci Fletcher *Background Vocals - Nanci Fletcher, Barbara Wilson, Dorothy Coleman *Video director - F. Gary Gray *Actors - Chris Tucker, Nia Long and Tiny Lister *Angie Stone 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 Angie Stone 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