In light of Tupacs birthday today alternative rapper Kwazi Cort has released a remix of ‘Keep Ya’ Head Up’ to honour his legacy.

Kwazi Cort Features Jaja Soze & Mr Sozah  for this record and brings through a 2016 update on the messages Tupac was trying to get across with the original.

Kwazi also shares his appreciation to Tupac in an amazing open letter:

No words can explain how honoured I am to be able to shed light on the life of Tupac and Afeni Shakur. No one in their right mind would cover a classic like ‘Keep Ya’ Head Up’, since the original song has all the inspiration you need to feel uplifted. To be totally real, I felt that the message in the song was important now in 2016 than ever before as life around me just gets more tragic everyday. So many of my friends have lost their freedom it just makes me wonder why god has protected me over the years.

At the moment my life is crazy, there have been so many ups and downs that I can hardly focus. But through all the pain and the bullshit, I am always reminded to smile. On this journey I have lost so many close friends and family that I am starting to become desensitised to the feeling of pain. In spite of this, I’ll never lose hope because hope is the mother of all progression. The brother Tupac said it best:

“Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside while still alive. Never surrender.”

Listening to Tupac and Afeni talk about their upbringing in interviews and songs allowed me to relate to their struggle and to understand that a diamond in the dirt is still a diamond – its environment does not alter its value. There really is beauty in the struggle if u can find a way to master every thought you have about yourself. Never lose hope In yourself, for your life will be shaped by what you believe in.

Kwazi Cort 2016 

R.I.P Tupac and Afeni Shakur 

My gift to you and the world.