2PAC – Dear Mama

When I was pregnant in jail, I thought I was gonna have a baby and the baby would never be with me but I was acquitted a month and three days before 2Pac was born. I was real happy, because I had a son.

[Verse 1]
When I was young, me and my mama had beef
Seventeen years old, kicked out on the streets
Though back at the time I never thought I’d see her face
Ain’t a woman alive that could take my mama’s place
Suspended from school, and scared to go home
I was a fool, with the big boys breakin’ all the rules
I shed tears with my baby sister, over the years
We was poorer than the other little kids
And even though we had different daddies, the same drama
When things went wrong we’d blame Mama
I reminisce on the stress I caused, it was hell
Huggin’ on my mama from a jail cell
And who’d think in elementary, hey
I’d see the penitentiary one day?
And runnin’ from the police, that’s right
Mama catch me, put a whoopin’ to my backside
And even as a crack fiend, Mama
You always was a black queen, Mama
I finally understand
For a woman it ain’t easy tryin’ to raise a man
You always was committed
A poor single mother on welfare, tell me how you did it
There’s no way I can pay you back, but the plan
Is to show you that I understand: you are appreciated