Ahmad Ali Lewis made a deal with his mother back when he was a student at Palisades High School: He would go to college unless he got a recording contract for his upbeat rap music.
It was a big if. But Lewis, 17, an honors student and top football player, skipped the college entrance exams and signed with Giant Records. "I said, 'S.A.T. -- whatever. I want to R.A.P.,' " he recalls.
His 1994 album, immodestly called "Ahmad," included a hit single, "Back in the Day," a nostalgic riff on his South Los Angeles childhood. In it, he rapped:
I miss those days, and so I pout like a grown jerk
Wishin all I had to do now, was finish homework.
It's true you don't realize
really what you got
til it's gone
And I'm not gonna sing
another sad song, but
Sometimes I do sit and
reminisce then
Think about the years I was raised, back in the days.
Looking back, Lewis said he does not regret his teenage decision, even though his early success was followed by struggles in a music industry he criticized as promoting violence in the African American community. Now 32 and the father of a 4-year-old son, he is still recording songs, but he also is finishing homework.
Ahmad the first-name-only rapper has become Ahmad Ali Lewis the Stanford-bound scholar.
Lewis enrolled two years ago at Long Beach City College and graduated in May as valedictorian, with a 4.0 grade point average. He was accepted as a transfer student by several universities for this fall and chose Stanford.
"When I stepped on campus, something in my gut said, 'Dude, this is where you belong,' " said Lewis, who plans to pursue bachelor's degrees in sociology and African American studies. He said he is "going to be Dr. Ahmad Ali Lewis, the first rapper with a PhD." He quickly conceded, "Maybe someone else has done it, I don't know." No matter, he said, since he expects to get a doctorate in social work and become a professor.
"I love teaching," said Lewis, who recently tutored at an elementary school. "Rapping and teaching are not that far apart. You're rapping, you're talking. You're a professor, you're talking."
Compact but broad-shouldered at 5 feet 7 and 155 pounds, Lewis still has the build of the running back he was in high school. His head is shaven and he has two tattoos: on his left shoulder, a map of Africa containing a woman's face, and on his right forearm, "4th Avenue Jones," the name of the soul-rock-rap band he cofounded with his former wife, singer Tena Jones. When he talks, he waves his hands in the open-fingered style of rap performance.
