Brendas 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 singer Dave Hollister, is about a twelve year-old girl named Brenda who lives in a ghetto, has a baby, and is incapable of supporting it. The song explores the issue of teen pregnancy and its effect on the young mothers and their families. Like many of Shakurs songs, Brendas Got a Baby draws from the plight of the impoverished. Using Brenda to represent young mothers in general, Shakur criticises the low level of support from the babys 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 her cousin and threw the baby in a trash compactor 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 in writing, and calls this a damn shame, criticizing and has little hope in life. Her family is very poor, and her father is a heroin addict. Brenda is impregnated by her unnamed boyfriend, who is her older cousin, but she is successfully able to hide her pregnancy. 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 cousin 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 a bathroom floor. Brenda disposes of it by throwing it in a trash bin but later retrieves it as she hears the babys crying. 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 sell crack cocaine results in robbery, and eventually she views prostitution as her only way to make money. This life path leads to her to being murdered. 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 -Jila
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 01:34:54 +0000
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