"Keep Their Heads Ringin'" | ||||
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Single by Dr. Dre | ||||
from the album Friday (soundtrack) | ||||
B-side | "Take a Hit" by Mack 10 | |||
Released | March 7, 1995 | |||
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Recorded | 1994 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 5:06 | |||
Label | ||||
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Producer(s) | ||||
Dr. Dre singles chronology | ||||
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"Keep Their Heads Ringin'" is a single by American rapper Dr. Dre featuring vocalist Nanci Fletcher, taken from the soundtrack of the movie Friday.
Although the soundtrack was released on Epic Records, Death Row Records still owns the 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. It was certified gold by the 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. The song also appears on Death Row Greatest Hits released in 1996.
"Hey. Whatup?" in the introduction is done by Dr. Dre while the intro continues with KRS-One saying his trademark shout "Buck, buck, buck". There is an alternate version of the song on Death Row Greatest Hits and the compilation album Death Row Dayz, where Dr. Dre uses the line on verse 1: "Just chill, listen to the beats I spill, I use Crest, so ain't no cavity creeps in my grill", instead of the more mainstream version of: "Just chill, listen to the beats I spill, keepin' it real, enables me to make another mill'" and on verse 3 "Dre came to wax you, hoe just call me Mop 'n Glow" instead of "Dre came to wax you, so just call me Mop 'n Glow".
The music video was directed by F. Gary Gray and takes place in a plane hangar, in a Convair 880, with Dr. Dre, and his crew taking over air control. It features cast members from Friday including Chris Tucker, Faizon Love, and Nia Long, to name a few. It ends with Chris Tucker and Faizon Love taking the plane and flying away from the police. Chris Tucker says "I'm on probation, I can't go back to jail" referring to the character "Smokey" who was having trouble with the law in Friday. Lead vocalist Nanci Fletcher's intro marked the first time a female from the Death Row camp was featured in a video.