It's an obvious choice, perhaps, but 'Keep Ya Head Up' has always been one of my favourite hip hop lyrics.

Sure I like conscious 2Pac, but I also really like bragadocious 2Pac. I'm fond of his verse on World Wide Mob Figgaz with Outlawz:

.

Known for doing scandalous deeds, no handling me
And nah, it ain’t the drugs, it’s just a straight thug n**** in me
I swoop down and cause havoc
My rapid delivery is automatic, lettin' n****s have it
I've been labelled as a thug n****
Since they don't sell my shit to white folks
Ship it to the drug dealers
And catch a—catch a n**** world wide
A fuckin' mob figga West coast, who-ride
When we rob n****s money make my squad bigger
But we ain't sell our souls
Bustin' on my enemies, murder my foes
At my shows I'm a nut, lights camera time for action
Now get to clappin' to my cuts, a world wide mob figga

I remember hearing him when he first debuted with 2pacalypse Now album and I always felt that that his first three releases, 2N, Strictly 4 My N*****, and Me Against the World were the actual essence of the man and his contradictions. Best lyrics for me come from "Souljah's Story".

SCARFACE - SMILE

There's gon' be some stuff you gon' see
that's gon' make it hard to smile in the future.
But through whatever you see,
through all the rain and the pain,
you gotta keep your sense of humor.
You gotta be able to smile through all this bullshit.
Remember that.
Mmm, yeah.
Keep ya head up. Yeah.

[Verse One: 2Pac]

Our lifestyles be close captioned
addicted to fatal attractions
Pictures of actions be played back
in the midst of mashin'
No fairy tales for this young black male
Some see me stranded in this land of hell, jail, and crack sales
Hustlin' and heart be a nigga culture
or the repercutions while bustin' on backstabbin' vultures
Sellin' my soul for material wishes, fast cars and bitches
Wishin' I lived my life a legend, immortalized in pictures
Why shed tears? Save your sympathy
My childhood years were spent buryin' my peers in the cemetary
Here's a message to the newborns, waitin' to breathe
If you believe then you can achieve
Just look at me
Against all odds, though life is hard we carry on
Livin' in the projects, broke with no lights on
To all the seeds that follow me
protect your essence
Born with less, but you still precious
Just smile for me now