Brenda had a baby

But Brenda barely had a brain

It’s a damn shame

Pac’s the reason I know my Momma’s name

Now you could say it’s not your problem

It was the hand I was given

Life isn’t fair

I was found in a trash heap

And if it was up to my step-father I would have stayed there

Born on the bathroom floor

My momma didn’t know what to keep

And in the midst of her hysteria

She threw away me

My grandfather was a junkie, grandmother wasn’t there

My mother would end up as a prostitute slain

But my step-father didn’t give a fuck about my mothers situation

And he put her there

Nowadays, with no authority guiding me other than that of my step-father

I do whatever it takes to resist the temptation

To sell crack to my own people

And avoid the jail cell one third of us are destined to be placed in

I’m not sure how much it helps

But some nights I pray as I fall onto my knees

Because in my country I’m treated like an unwanted step child

And my step daddy would rather see me like strange fruit hangin

From the Poplar Trees

I’ve been living with my step fathers boot on my neck

As if life wasn’t hard enough in my community

Someone how I made it to and finished college

And conservatives have the nerve to say the treatment is the same

between them and me

Maybe I can Garner support like Eric did

But hopefully it reaches me before I die

Suffocated by a system that’s mad I ever got the chance to be alive

I just want to be Granted the freedoms that Oscar was denied

But we carry on day by day striving for greatness

Regardless of what they think

Because no matter what levels of success this young king reaches

They will never cut the nose off this sphinx

Brenda’s baby is every “urban” black boy you dehumanize

Cops drive by and stare him down

As he stares back with his Momma’s eyes

So long live the rose that grew from concrete

When nobody even cared

But just in case you were wondering

Brenda’s baby is still here