Songfacts®:

• "Headup" is about the death of Dana Wells, son of Soulfly vocalist/guitarist and former Sepultura member Max Cavalera. The death remained a controversial a mystery in Phoenix, Arizona, for years afterwards.
  
  On August 16, 1996, several eyewitnesses watched two cars speeding through the streets. At 1:43 in the morning, one of the cars swerved, hit a mesquite tree, and flipped over. The other car paused for a beat before speeding off into the night. Inside the wrecked car were 21-year-old Dana Wells and two other young men. Wells was the accident's only fatality. His passengers survived and claimed they suffered amnesia.
  
  How can you live with that you f--king parasite? (Soulfly)
  How am I supposed to live with this you f--king parasite? (Fly high)
  How can you live with this you f--king parasite? (Soulfly)
  How can I live with that you f--king parasite? (Fly free)
  
  Cavalera was devastated by the accident, and he was angry. He and others close to Wells were convinced that the two passengers were lying about their amnesia because they had something to hide. In 1999, Phoenix New Times published an article titled "For Reasons Unknown." Many remained suspicious of the circumstances, but little could be done. There simply wasn't enough evidence. Authorities kept the case open but inactive until more information presented itself (which doesn't appear to have ever happened).
  
  When Deftones heard about the accident, they invited Cavalera to Seattle to collaborate on a track in Wells' memory. Wells' mother, Gloria, pulled out some lyrics that Dana had written on a flier at home. Cavalera and Deftones frontman Chino Moreno sat on the studio floor surrounded by pictures of Wells while writing the "Headup" lyrics (which included lines drawn from Wells' own words on the aforementioned flier). During recording things got so intense that Moreno busted his nose open on his microphone. Cavalera recalls the Deftones vocalist being a mask of blood while they recorded.
  
  Gloria later said that the experience gave her and Max light during a dark time.
• Max Cavalera named his band Soulfly after the lyrics in "Headup."
• Max Cavalera explained: "The song we did together was very special. They'd lost a friend too. When me and Chino recorded the vocals we were both on the floor and emotions were going everywhere. It was almost as if we had Dana in the studio sitting between the two of us. We were raging so hard, and I remember looking up and seeing Chino had smashed his nose and there was blood all over his face. He had this expression on his face which said, 'How much more energy can you put into a song!' It was unbelievable! When I put that song on I get goosebumps."
• "Headup" is a staple of Deftones' live performances. Anytime Cavalera was around their shows, he'd join them onstage for the song.
• With the Around The Fur album, Deftones were trying to develop their own sound. This is the first time they brought in DJ Frank Delgado, who would soon become a staple band member. He worked on five Around The Fur songs, including this one.
• Cavalera told Songfacts that the "Headup" collaboration was the first time he met Terry Date, who would come to be a regular producer with Soulfly.
• The song "MX," also on Around the Fur, was named after Max Cavalera ("Max" with the "a" removed).
• Multiple Soulfly songs also involve Wells, including "Bleed," "First Commandment," "Pain," "Tree of Pain," "Revengeance," and "Staystrong." Before his passing, Wells wrote the lyrics to "Attitude" by Sepultura.
• An alternate version of the song was added to Spotify when Deftones uploaded Around The Fur. It runs a minute longer and drops the "Dai the Flu" transition piece that is found on the original recording.
• In the Around The Fur liner notes, the "Headup" lyrics are shown as a poem dedicated to Dana Wells.
• Wells was also known as "D-Low." From 1998 to 2016, family and friends held a D-Low Memorial Show at various Arizona locations. The last show was supposed to be 2016, but they ran it again in 2020 and 2021. In a piece discussing the 2016 sendoff, Cavalera's mother included several pictures of the recording of "Headup," which was a staple of the D-Low shows.