Brenda's Got A Baby Archives - New Hip Hop News

On this day in 1991, one of Hip-Hop’s brightest stars, Tupac Shakur, released his first studio album 2Pacalypse Now. Although it didn’t take the Billboard charts by storm upon its original release, it was the first of many albums that hold a place in the hearts of almost all fans of Hip-Hop across the world.

As far as content goes, this is easily Pac’s most politically influenced album. From the opening single, “Young Black Male,” the listener can tell how 2Pac felt about the circumstances facing his people in 1991. The rest of the album follows that aggressive poetic style. Although this approach to the industry wasn’t one that gave him a jump start like the radio heavy songs of his competition during that era, it did hold truth and leave a mark on those that heard it. The lack of commercial success of this album came from its lack of a true radio single. The most popular song on the album, “Brenda’s Got a Baby,” did reach a peak position of 11 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart in 1992, the subject matter and lack of hook made it a hard song to flood the airwaves with.

This was not an album for the radio; it was an album for the people. It still is. The nearly 20-year-old Tupac Shakur was trying to talk to his bruised and battered people in the ghettos of America. He took the opportunity of his platform to showcase his poetic ability and address a country that he felt still needed to be addressed on the subject of racism and discrimination. This activist mindset became a theme throughout his career as he became more outspoken about the oppression of Blacks in America until his untimely death in 1997. From this project came the career of a man who has been argued to be the greatest rapper of all time. And whether that is certain or not, the fact still remains that this album started a legacy and we should all take some time to pay homage to the Thug who was taken from us too soon.

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Allen Hughes has praised 2Pac as a pioneer of “female-centric songs” from male artists in the rap community. “Brenda’s Got A Baby” came out when he was 20. He wrote it when he was 18. To this day, point me to one male rapper who ever consistently wrote female centric songs. When you look at ‘Brenda’s Got A Baby,’ what makes it unique is it’s one long verse. It’s storytelling at its finest. He’s singular in that he’s got like eight to 10 songs that embody a female perspective, experience, disposition, heart or mind—and that’s the thing he had. If you knew him behind closed doors, you’d see other sides of him that were almost demure and soft, and they’re always very sweet. He was really in touch with his feminine side,” Hughes told Hits DailyDouble last month.

Furthermore, Hughes said never Pac never lost that edge. “Even when we start talking about toxic masculinity and maybe the trap he may have fell into later, he wasn’t afraid to cry, he wasn’t afraid to be sensitive or write poetry. And by the way, he was always reading. He always had a book in his hand. To Hip-Hop at the time, that was like kryptonite ’cause who reads?” Hughes added.

Allen Hughes Calls 2Pac “Delusional” But A “True Artist”

NEW YORK, NY – APRIL 25: American rapper, songwriter, and actor (1971-1996) Tupac Shakur poses for a portrait during the 1994 Source Awards on April 25, 1994 at the Paramount Theatre in New York, New York. (Photo by Bob Berg/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, in August 2023, Hughes called “delusional” but a “true artist”. “The thing that I discovered on Dear Mama was he truly is an artist. He’s a poet. He don’t see the world the way normal people see the world. He don’t see danger the way normal people see danger,” he began.

“I got in trouble with the [Shakur] family when I said this, but pure artists are delusional. Yeah. That’s part of what makes them great artists: they’re delusional. They’re sharing their delusions with us. But they don’t think they’re delusions: it’s real to them. So they don’t see the reality of things. They see the dream of it all. They’re living in a dream. That’s part of what made him so special. Tupac was subjecting us to his fantasies, but they weren’t fantasies to him,” he continued.

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