The song re-uses lines from "I Wonder If Heaven Got a Ghetto" which was recorded during the same year.
The song samples the 1986 hit "The Way It Is" by Bruce Hornsby and the Range.
The Tupac "Changes" instrumental was used by Insane Clown Posse in "Mom Song", a Mother's Day song.
Nas sampled the song for his song "Black President".
The song was the #1 hit in Norway and the Netherlands and reached the top ten in the singles charts of several other countries, including #3 in the United Kingdom, which gained Tupac a broader audience.