He was 18 when he landed a hit single, “Back in the Day,” on the 1994 pop and R&B charts from his album Ahmad. The message and sound had plenty of street cred, combined with an ironically sweet nostalgia about a dicey South Los Angeles childhood. His enrollment at Stanford, after being named last spring’s valedictorian at Long Beach City College, put him back in the news. The 14-year transition had taken him from nostalgic lyricist to nostalgic celebrity.
To see Ahmad break down a lot of stereotypes of folks who go into the music industry in general, let alone hip-hop or rap, and then return to higher education and go to Stanford is a remarkable story.
via LA Times
What an awesome story. You can hear Back in the Day on Youtube -- It's definitely a classic 90's chilled out hip hop tune I remember listening to it on repeat all these years.
