Tyga: Tupac Was More of a Father to Me Than My Real Dad

Tyga's biggest male role model was the rapper he listened to and idolized while growing up ... without his father.

Tyga was at LAX when he explained his recent tweet ... a side-by-side of himself and Tupac, which he captioned, "Dad."

The video is interesting ... we rarely see a serious side of Tyga, but he was straight-faced as he talked about his fatherless childhood.

Speaking of which ... he also gave Rob Kardashian props as a possible stepdad to his son with Blac Chyna.