Gangsta rap may be continually criticized for glorifying violence and sexism, but few of the potshots come from the rap community itself. Even "G-rated" rappers seem to accept gangsta rap as a legitimate force--or worry about speaking out and being branded as wimps.

But not Ahmad, a small, wiry 18-year-old Los Angeles rapper whose introspective--and G-rated--"Back in the Day" is one of the season's biggest rap singles.

"Some people might see me as a traitor but that doesn't matter," says Ahmad, who grew up in South-Central Los Angeles and uses only his first name (his last name is Lewis).

"You're not supposed to knock gangsta rap, particularly if you're from South-Central. Some people might think that some rap fans will turn their backs on you if you knock it. But I can't worry about that. I have a forum now and I'm not afraid to use it to say some things that need to be said."

When Ahmad talks, people listen.

Articulate, confident and animated, he drives his points home with the skill of a seasoned public speaker as he sits behind a desk in the small, windowless room in his manager's Westwood office.

He becomes more impassioned the more he talks about gangsta rap.

"The main thing is the negative influence on the kids," he says, hands stretched in the air, emphasizing his sense of despair. "How can you make this kind of music knowing kids will hear it and learn bad things from it? Black people are making these songs about black people. We're destroying ourselves, teaching our kids low self-esteem."

He's still just warming up.

"It's the shock value of gangsta that gets to everybody," he adds. "Once people stop being shocked by it--which will happen in the next few years--they'll see these rappers are basically full of hot air.

"What bothers me is that there are some fakes out there, rappers who aren't what they claim to be. They're in it for the money, exploiting their own people. What I want to show is that rappers don't have to resort to that. I felt I could make a good hip-hop album without all that gangsta foolishness."

Ahmad has done just that. His debut album on Giant, "Ahmad," ranks with the year's finest rap collections, offering a different perspective on South-Central.

"Back in the Day" looks back to the '80s, "when things were a little better," he explains. "What I'm trying to do is represent the voiceless majority in South-Central, the people who hate gangs, who feel victimized by their surroundings, who don't see any glamour in gangsta rap, who think about things other than drugs and shooting and chasing women."