Music is the soundtrack to our lives; it is in the background of everything people do. Music is universal and appeals to all ages, races, and sexes. It brings awareness of important issues to the people, and when it is written from life experiences, the audience can relate to the idea that the artist is trying to deliver. There are many genres of music that are notably different in sound and targeted listeners, but there is something that links them together, and that is a common message. Music is always changing and evolving; as issues in the world change, so does music. In the late 1980s and early 1990s one of the biggest issues was teenage pregnancy. The two songs that are being compared here are “Brenda’s Got a Baby” and “Papa Don’t Preach”, both songs deal with this important issue.
“Papa Don’t Preach” was a song released on Madonna’s “True Blue” album in 1986. This song deals with teen pregnancy from the perspective of a pregnant teenager, who is confused and looking for advice. Tupac’s song “Brenda’s Got a Baby” from his 2Pacalypse Now album released in 1991, deals with the same topic. In his song, he paints a more detailed and horrific picture. The character in his song is a twelve-year-old girl that has no one to turn to for advice, and she is forced to make decisions on her own, decisions that a twelve-year-old is not ready to make.
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The targeted audience of Madonna’s song is white teenage girls. These girls generally have a more structured family arrangement. Not always, but communications are usually open in these families. In her song, Madonna’s lyrics say “You always taught me right from wrong, I need your help daddy please be strong, I may be young at heart but I know what I’m saying, The one you warned me all about, The one you said I could do with out”. Her father gave her advice to stay away from this guy, and was active in her life. Although they disagree, Madonna and her father talk openly about her life, and what goes on in it. She respects his feelings but hopes her father can look past her mistake, and still helps her with her choice.
Tupac has always had a reputation for bringing the problems of poor black neighborhoods to the attention of its’ residents and the world. Clearly his target audience in “Brenda’s Got a Baby” is the black community. Sending the message to the young black females; as the lyrics state “It’s sad cause I bet Brenda doesn’t even know, just ’cause you’re in the ghetto doesn’t mean ya can’t grow”. There is also an underlying message to the parents that they need to educate their children and be a little more watchful of them. Most poor families are too busy working to be at home raising their children, and can’t afford to pay for childcare. The children are then left to raise them selves. The girl in his story is Brenda. She doesn’t really know her mother and her father is a junky. Her family doesn’t care what she does and this is learned from the lyrics.
“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”. After she has the baby, her parents kick her out, not wanting deal with the problem, and she is forced to make her own way. There is no communication in this family. The parents are too busy trying to satisfy their own wants and needs, that any problem that their own child brings to them is dismissed, for fear of it complicating their own lives. This is proven in this lyric “Mama said you makin me loose pay, and social worker’s here everyday, now Brenda’s gotta make her own way, can’t go to her family they won’t let her stay”.
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The fathers of the unborn babies in both songs contrast in the same way as the parents do. The boyfriend that Madonna sings about wants to marry her. She tells her father “He says that he is going to marry me, and we can raise a little family”. Her boyfriend is willing to work together on raising their baby. This is a sacrifice on both of their parts. Even with the influence of friends telling them to give up the child, they are both willing to take on the consequences of their actions.
In Tupac’s song, he tells us that Brenda got pregnant by her cousin, “Brenda got herself a boyfriend, her boyfriend was her cousin, now let’s watch the joy end”. Further into the song Tupac explains how naïve Brenda is that she thinks of him as her boyfriend, and was in love with him, not knowing any better. “She thinks that she will be with him forever, and dreams of a world where the two of them are together, what ever, he left her, and she had the baby solo, she had it on the bathroom floor and didn’t know so”. He leaves her because like the rest of her family he does what is in his own best interest. With Brenda not having any options, tries to raise the baby on her own with no one to help her.
Both artists are trying to convey a message that it is not just the individuals’ problem but the communities’ problem as well. As Tupac’s lyrics say, “That’s not our problem, that’s up to Brenda’s family, well let me show you how it affects the whole community”. His song needs to be more detailed then Madonna’s, because this issue is much more prevalent in the poor black community. This fact is supported by statistics found at www.guttmacher.org on charts showing teen pregnancy trends by race and ethnicity. The statistics shown on this website state that the total number of pregnant black teens ages 15-19 in 1991 was 222,300, while the total number of pregnant non-hispanic white teens in that same year was 82,700. The song continues on to tell of how Brenda, living on the streets, sold drugs and her body for money and ultimately was killed in the end. It is obvious the cause and effect message that is being sent about this lifestyle.
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By both artists writing about the same matter, shows how this problem not only affects one ethnic group, but affects them all. This is proven by the statistics of teenage pregnancies in the United States also found at www.guttmacher.org. The numbers on this website show that in 1985 the estimated total number of known pregnancies of women under the age of twenty was 1,031,040. The year Madonna’s album came out in 1986, the estimated number declined to 1,011,920. The following year, 1987, the numbers continued to drop to 1,002,650.
Similarly the statistics proved the same for Tupac’s message as well. In 1990 the estimated total number of known pregnancies in women under twenty years old was 1,040,090. “Brenda’s Got a Baby” was released in 1991, and the estimated total decreased to 997,190. Just like with “Papa Don’t Preach” the decrease continued; in 1992 the estimated total number was down to 960,180. While researching these statistics some websites mentioned Tupac’s song as a tool used to raise the awareness of teen pregnancies.
Music is used for advertising and selling products, so it is only logical that it should be used to deliver knowledge to the masses. There has been debate over the years of the content of rap and rock music. But as long as there are people out there going through these struggles in everyday life they will be able to understand what lesson the artist is trying to teach.
These two songs targeted two different audiences, but had the same message, bringing a cultural problem to the mainstream. The approaches were very different but the results were the same. Though the problem has not disappeared, with artists willing to take chance and raise the cultural and social consciousness of the listeners, we can expect there to be further decreases in statistics of unsolved issues in our communities.
