2Pac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby” remains one of hip-hop’s most powerful songs—and now, the real baby who inspired it is sharing his truth.
In Jeff Pearlman’s new biography Only God Can Judge Me, one of the most striking revelations is the story of Davonn Hodge, the actual child behind the 1991 classic.
During an appearance on Matt Barnes’ All the Smoke podcast, Pearlman and Hodge discussed how the song came to life and how Hodge was found.
According to Pearlman, 2Pac was filming Juice in 1990 when he came across a New York Daily News article titled Cries in the Dark. “It was about a 12-year-old girl in Brooklyn who was raped by her cousin, gave birth on the floor, wrapped the baby in a plastic bag, and threw him down a trash heap,” he explained.
Miraculously, it was garbage collection day, and someone heard the infant’s cries, saving the child’s life.
“2Pac read the article and said to Omar Epps, ‘Holy shit,’” Pearlman recalled. “He went into his trailer and said, ‘Leave me alone for a bit.’ When he came out, he had already written: ‘Brenda’s got a baby, Brenda’s barely got a brain / A damn shame the girl can hardly spell her name.’”
Pearlman reached out to genealogist Michele Soulli, a former classmate from Mahopac High School, to help him find the real baby behind 2Pac’s “Brenda’s Got a Baby.” Within a week, Soulli successfully uncovered his identity, leading Pearlman to meet Davonn Hodge in person. “He’s one of the best people you will ever meet,” Pearlman said.
Hodge shared that a $99 ancestry DNA test unexpectedly revealed the truth. “I found out a little bit before Jeff,” he explained. “When you do an ancestry test, you never know what’s going to come up. I wasn’t really doing it for family reasons—it was more about learning where I came from.”
After losing both of his parents within ten months, Hodge decided to take the test. That led him to relatives who shared old newspaper clippings and told him the full story. “It would’ve been hard for them to find me,” he said. “My last name changed. My mom did a good job keeping me protected from all that.”
Hodge revealed he was adopted at around five months old. “Because of how serious the situation was, they couldn’t let me stay with her,” he said. “We had visitation until I was about two.” Out of respect, he didn’t name his biological mother, who wishes to stay out of the spotlight.
He added that his adoptive mom never told him about the assault, only that his birth mother had to give him up. “I lived 32 years without knowing,” he said. “Listening to that song my whole life, you know what I’m saying?” When host Matt Barnes teased him for being a Biggie fan, Hodge laughed, “I’m from Brooklyn—Biggie will always be number one.”
After meeting Hodge, Pearlman managed to find his biological mother, who broke down crying when she heard from him, asking, “Do you know where my son is?” She told Pearlman she’d been searching for him for about two decades and was living in New Jersey. Coincidentally, she was in Las Vegas for a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert—the same city Hodge lives just 20 minutes from—so the two reunited that very night.
Jeff Pearlman’s Only God Can Judge Me arrives in bookstores on October 21.
