He Wants to Chase the Gangstas Out of Rap : Pop music: Ahmad’s single ‘Back in the Day,’ which offers a different perspective on life in South-Central L.A., is G-rated--and a hit.

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.”

Explaining the themes of his album, Ahmad adds: “It deals with life experiences, with different scenarios from my neighborhood. There are some messages, but I don’t preach. Like on the new single, ‘You Gotta Be . . . ,’ I don’t say don’t be a gang-banger, but when you listen to the lyrics you get the message. The point is to make your own choices and don’t just follow the crowd.”

Could Ahmad’s strong words harm his career?

“Some gangsta rappers may turn up their noses at him. They probably won’t appreciate the criticism,” says Billboard magazine’s rap expert, Datu Faison. But Faison sees Ahmad’s stance as potentially more of an asset than a liability.

“I don’t think kids will turn their backs on him because he’s knocking gangsta rap,” Faison says. “It may even have some impact on rap fans, who’d be more inclined to listen to a young rapper than some minister or politician who’s knocking gangsta rap. It may help Ahmad at radio. Some programmers who are against gangsta rap may start supporting him.”

Ahmad, who graduated from high school last year, says he would be in college on a football scholarship right now, playing flanker or cornerback, if it weren’t for his passion for rap.

He was bused from South-Central to Palisades High School, where he was an honor student, captain of the football team and participated in student government.

“I didn’t want to go there at first, but my mom made me,” he says of the Pacific Palisades school. “It was hard at first because I didn’t fit in. Also, I had to get up so early to catch the bus and I’d come home at night and have to walk through my neighborhood, which is no fun at night. But I made the best of it.”

A dedicated rapper since he was 12, he got a deal at Giant Records last year after making a demo record. His primary goal, he says, is just to be a better rapper.

“I practice every day, trying to master this art form,” he says. “That’s why it upsets me when these gangsta rappers who can’t rap come in and have hits based on exploitation. I love and respect rap--they don’t.”