#Socialites, get a load of this! Tupac Shakur biographer Jeff Pearlman talks locating Davonn Hodge, the child that inspired 2Pac‘s “Brenda’s Got A Baby” song; and how he even helped reunite the now 34-year-old man with his mother after 20 years.
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Recalling Tupac’s “Brenda’s Got A Baby” Song Lyrics
Pearlman, a bestselling author who went from sports to writing Tupac‘s biography, told the insane story behind Pac’s 1991 song and how he found the baby and mother Pac rapped about. In the song, Pac, born Tupac Amaru Shakur, notably raps:
“I hear Brenda’s got a baby
But Brenda’s barely got a brain
A damn shame, the girl can hardly spell her name
(That’s not our problem, that’s up to Brenda’s family)
Well, let me show ya how it affects our whole community
Now Brenda really never knew her moms and her dad was a
Junky, puttin’ death to his arms, it’s sad ’cause I bet
Brenda doesn’t even know
Just ’cause you’re in the ghetto doesn’t mean you can’t grow (you can’t grow)
But oh, that’s a thought, my own revelation
Do whatever it takes to resist the temptation
Brenda got herself a boyfriend
Her boyfriend was her cousin, now let’s watch the joy end
She tried to hide her pregnancy, from her family
Who didn’t really care to see, or give a damn if she
Went out and had a church of kids
As long as when the check came they got first dibs
Now Brenda’s belly is gettin’ bigger
But no one seems to notice any change in her figure
She’s 12 years old and she’s having a baby
In love with the molester, who’s sexing her crazy
And yet and also she thinks that he’ll be with her forever
And dreams of a world with the two of them are together
Whatever, he left her and she had the baby solo
She had it on the bathroom floor and didn’t know so
She didn’t know, what to throw away and what to keep
She wrapped the baby up and threw him in the trash heap
I guess she thought she’d get away, wouldn’t hear the cries
She didn’t realize
How much the the little baby had her eyes
Now the baby’s in the trash heap balling
Momma can’t help her, but it hurts to hear her calling
Brenda wants to run away
Momma say, “You makin’ me lose pay
And social workers here every day”
Now Brenda’s gotta make her own way
Can’t go to her family, they won’t let her stay
No money, no babysitter, she couldn’t keep a job
She tried to sell crack, but end up getting robbed
So now what’s next, there ain’t nothing left to sell
So she sees sex as a way of leaving hell
It’s paying the rent, so she really can’t complain
Prostitute, found slain, and Brenda’s her name, she’s got a baby”
Tupac Shakur Biographer Locates Child From “Brenda’s Got A Baby” Song
During a recent interview on The Rich Eisen Show,’ Tupac biographer Jeff Pearlman told host Rich Eisen how Pac was in New York filming the 1992-released movie ‘Juice.’ Pearlman said while reading the New York Daily News newspaper, Pac came across an article titled, ‘Cries in the Night.’ Pearlman said:
“The article was about a 12-year-old girl in Noble Drew Ali public housing in Brooklyn, who was raped by a cousin, didn’t tell anyone, delivered the baby on the bathroom floor, wrapped the baby in an odd lot plastic bag, opened the trash chute, threw the baby down a trash chute, just getting rid of the baby. It’s the day the trash compactor supposed to go off, and someone downstairs hears the baby crying. The baby’s then taken to the hospital. There’s an article in ‘The Daily News’ about it. Tupac reads it. He says to Omar Epps, his co-star, ‘I’m just going to go write something.’ And he writes a song inspired by it.”
Pearlman said, like many who sang along with the song, Tupac’s associate manger and confidant Leila Steinberg, wanted to know if the baby and Brenda were real and whatever happened to them both. Pearlman said he began working with a genealogist named Michele Soulli. He brought the idea to track down the baby from Pac’s “Brenda’s Got A Baby” song. A few days later, she gave him a name, Davonn Hodge.
Pearlman said he texted Hodge’s phone number with a screenshot of the article, asking if he was the baby by any chance. Hodge replied, “Holy crap. Let me call you tomorrow.” Two days later, Pearlman recalled meeting Hodge at a Starbucks in Las Vegas. Hodge told him that he was adopted after being found as a baby. His adoptive parents moved to Las Vegas and was mostly raised there.
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Tupac Shakur Biographer Finds Child From “Brenda’s Got A Baby” Song And Reunites Him With Mother
A few years ago, his adoptive parents died months apart, leaving him wanting to find out more about his real family. Hodge died an Ancestry.com search that resulted in a connection to relatives still living at the Noble Drew Ali public housing in Brooklyn. He reached out and learned that they were looking for him for years. His relatives hosted a reunion for him back in Brooklyn and told him how Tupac, one of his favorite rappers, made a song about him.
However, at this point, he hasn’t seen his mother — who hasn’t been identified and is only being referred to as “Brenda” — since she vanished after abandoning him. So, Pearlman goes back to the genealogist and asked to help find Hodge’s mother. Soulli took a few days and ended up locating her. When Soulli called Hodge’s mother, she asked if she had a baby at 12. While asking, the mother started crying and screaming. She asked, “Do you know where my baby is? Oh my God, I’ve been looking for my baby for decades.”
Soulli confirmed they had located her son. The mother said she needed to get home, back to Newark, New Jersey as she had been at a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert…in Las Vegas. That night, Hodge finally reunited with his mother.
Davonn Hodge, Child From Tupac Shakur’s “Brenda’s Got A Baby” Song Talks Reunion With His Mother
Together, Jeff Pearlman and Davonn Hodge more recently appeared on Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson‘s ‘All The Smoke‘ podcast. Hodge recalled finding out he was the baby from Pac’s infamous song. He talked about being found and the events that transpired after; including the court’s stopping him from seeing his mother and vice versa. Hodge added that his adoptive mother also never revealed what happened to his biological mother or that she was raped. He said:
“Me and my mom had visitation rights till I was around two. lived 32 years without knowing, Listening to this song my whole life, you know what I’m saying?”
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