2Pac flexes his storytelling on this classic as he illustrates the mindset of a young man’s desire to be a thug. Producer Johnny J said the following about the song:

‘Pac started thinking about how these kids think. He was like, “Little homies just want to be a thug.” He just put that title up there, and the subject just jumped off. It gave Napoleon a vibe of making him think it was about him. I kinda looked at it the same way. It was as if he was talking about Napoleon. He saw his parents murdered in front of him. Napoleon had a hard upbringing. He was going through it. It was like a therapeutic vibe. It had Tupac thinking for a minute.

The song samples Hank Crawford’s “Wildflower” and features trademark West Coast synth lines.