Tupac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby” is the kind of rap song that sticks with you for a lifetime. It’s conceptually devastating and the kind of empathetic writing that the disenfranchised rarely receive. Sadly, that kind of writing stemmed from a real place.
Recently, Author Jeff Pearlman appeared on The Rich Eisen Show to promote his Tupac biography, Only God Can Judge Me. Eisen inquired if there was anyone who didn’t want to talk for the book. While he noted Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg as particularly elusive, he revealed that he found the man who discovered the baby crying in the garbage, like in the song.
Eventually, through a ton of digging, Pearlman connected the dots on which Tupac based his song, with the help of genealogist Michele Soulli. He connected with Las Vegas resident Davonn Hodge, who revealed that he had found old relatives through Ancestry.com. With that information, the author found the mom (the ‘Brenda’ in question). Come to find out, she was based in New Jersey but was in Hodge’s area of Las Vegas for a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert. From there, they finally reunited after 34 long years.
Author Jeff Pearlman Found The Mom and Son Based on The Tupac Classic “Brenda’s Got a Baby”
Davonn Hodge got to tell his side of the story, speaking alongside Pearlman and Matt Barnes. “I found out a little bit before Jeff,” Hodge says. “As soon as I did the ancestry test, I reached out to the closest family members on there. When you do an ancestry test, you never know what’s going to pop up. I wasn’t really doing it for the family side, it was more of the diaspora side.”
Hodge’s adopted mom worked overtime to protect him from the publicity surrounding the Tupac classic. “It would have been hard for them to find me, to be honest with you. My last name changed. My mom did a good job sheltering me from that exposure,” Hodge says. But through discovering his relatives and talking it over, he was eventually able to connect the dots. Currently, the mom doesn’t care to be identified, a decision Hodge and Jeff Pearlman have upheld over the years.
Ironically, Hodge doesn’t stick up for Tupac the same way he does for Biggie, despite “Brenda’s Got a Baby”. Ultimately, he cites their shared hometown as the factor that solidifies the connection. “You know, I’m from Brooklyn, so Biggie will always be number one to me,” he laughs.
The post 34 Years Later, the Mom and Baby That Inspired Tupac’s ‘Brenda’s Got a Baby’ Were Finally Reunited appeared first on VICE.
