- Brenda's Got a Baby
Infobox Single
Name = Brenda's Got a Baby
Artist =2Pac featuringDave Hollister
from Album =2Pacalypse Now
B-side =
Released = 1991
Format = 12" single
Recorded = 1991
Genre = Rap
Length = 3:55
Label = Interscope
Writer = T. Shakur, D. Evans
Producer = The Underground Railroad
Certification =
Chronology = 2Pac singles
Last single =
This single = "Brenda's Got a Baby"
(1991)
Next single = "If My Homie Calls "
(1991)"Brenda's Got a Baby" is the solo debut single by
Tupac Shakur , and tenth track from his debut album, "2Pacalypse Now ". The song, which features R&B singerDave Hollister , is about a fictional twelve-year-old girl named Brenda who lives in aghetto , has a baby, and is incapable of supporting it. The song explores the issue ofteen pregnancy and its effect on the young mothers and their families. Like many of Shakur's songs, "Brenda's Got a Baby" draws from the plight of the impoverished. Using Brenda as ametaphor for young mothers everywhere, Shakur criticises the low level of support from the babies' father, the government, and society in general. Shakur wrote the song when he read a newspaper article about a twelve-year-old girl who got pregnant from hercousin and, because she didn't want her parents knowing know about the baby, threw it in a trash can.Lyrics
The opening consists of a duet singing the song’s title repeatedly. Much of the rest of the song is one long verse performed by Tupac. The verse begins with him telling a group that he has heard about Brenda’s pregnancy. He also notes that the
girl has had virtually no education in her life, having only barely obtained minimal skills inwriting , and calls this a "damn shame", criticizing and has little hope in life. Her family is very poor, and her father is aheroin addict. Brenda is impregnated by her unnamedboyfriend , who is her cousin, but she is successfully able to hide herpregnancy . Tupac explains that it wouldn’t matter to her family if she gave birth, as long as they got their cut of the government assistance.Although she believes that her
boyfriend will stay with her and help her raise the child, he is merely a molester, and abandons her before she gives birth to her baby on the bathroom floor of her house. Brenda tries to dispose of it by throwing it in atrash bin , but the baby’s bawling leads to her retrieving it. Her mother scolds her severely, and Brenda becomes so ashamed of herself that she runs away from home.Brenda now begins a life on her own, and unsuccessfully seeks
employment . Her attempt to illegally sellcrack cocaine results inrobbery , and eventually she viewsprostitution as her only way to make money. This lifestyle finally leads to her beingmurdered , but the lyrics never explain how. What becomes of other characters, such as her family, her boyfriend, and the baby itself, is uncertain. The final minute or so of the song consists of a chorus singing “don’t you know she’s got a baby” repeatedly.The video
The video of the song is
black-and-white . It was made to visualise what Shakur narrates. The first part shows Shakur andMoney-B talking about Brenda, and then the actual story starts.The video begins with "based on a true story," since although the characters themselves are fictitious, Shakur wrote the song after reading a story in the newspaper of a 12-year-old girl getting pregnant from her cousin and trying to dispose of the baby in an incinerator.
Parts of the video were included in "", a
2003 documentary on 2Pac's life, in a television later in the music video ofGhetto Gospel , in the music video of Changes and appears as a bonus in its entirety on the film'sDVD .Popularity
The song has been praised by artists such as
Nas , The Game, andMary J. Blige as being one of Shakur's most touching and poetic works. The Game refers to the song in his single "Hate It or Love It" in the line "Pac is gone, and Brenda still throwing babies in the garbage."In1998 it appeared on 2Pac'sgreatest hits album , "Greatest Hits (2Pac album) ". RapperBizzy Bone cited this as his favorite Tupac song of all time.The song was mentioned in "
Scary Movie ". When the character "Brenda Meeks" was with her boyfriend "Ray," a song from "2Pacalypse Now " turned on. She then went on to say that she had a shout-out on the album, hinting to her throwing a baby in the trash.
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