Dear mama was a tribute to Tupac 's mom. In the song he told about his childhood and his mother 's addiction to crack. His mother went to jail while being pregnant with him. Later on Tupac lost all respect over his mom once and he moved into in an apartment with his friend, and he started to write poetry and rap music. While growing up tupac was bad he did drugs, was around bad influences like thugs , and even had problems with the police. He wrote the song dear mama to forgive her for everything she did, and also he wrote it to show the love and deep respect he has for her. It all took place on the street “sometimes at his house. While growing up Tupac and his sister grew up without a dad because he left them and was never there