WATERLOO - Like many hip-hop artists, Lamont Muhammad's music contains references to the streets.

But unlike other rappers, the Waterloo man's lyrics don't glorify thug life. Growing up in California's Bay Area, Muhammad came face-to-face with the limited options crime offered. With his father incarcerated and his mother battling drug addiction, the musician lived with relatives in foster care.

Later, as a teen, a stint in detention for robbery served as a wake-up call .

"Never thought I'd be arrested / Serve time for 211s / Inside juvenile corrections," he raps on his debut record, "The Origin." But Muhammad, now 30, broke the cycle of poverty. At 19, he moved to the Midwest. Today, the Wartburg College graduate teaches third grade at the Dr. Walter Cunningham School For Excellence. In his music, he examines the reasons a disproportionate number of African-American males struggle to find their niche in society.

The result: An album for the thinker.

"I talk a lot about Africa, because that's where everything started," said the Nation of Islam follower, who sprinkles his songs with verses from the Bible and the Quran. "But I also talk about the things we go through here, as far as with the drugs and absentee fathers."

That said, "The Origin" is far from a social science theorem set to a beat.

"The focus is the message, but it's got all the elements of the genre," said Jake McCready, studio engineer at Grand Junction Recording in Waterloo. "The way he delivers it is really well done. It works."

The Original Man

Muhammad has been rapping since grade school. Influenced by his Christian grandmother, the artist's first ditty was about Jesus.

"Hip-hop is just a part of me," he said. "But I didn't get enough confidence to say: 'OK, I'm going to put an album out,' until last year."

He went to Phoenix to cut a mixed tape and started performing locally at the Talk Shop Cafe and at a Hawkeye Community College hip-hop summit. He adopted "The Original Man" as his stage name. The title is a reference to scientific evidence showing the human race evolved from a common African ancestor, and a nod to his personal sense of renewal after battling oppression.

This spring, he recorded "The Origin" at Grand Junction. Muhammad continues to collaborate with other area rappers and has already started writing songs for a second album. As in his earlier work, the artist draws on Nation of Islam philosophies. His songs dissect contemporary social ills - particularly those affecting people of color - while using history to impart black pride in his listeners.

The songs counteract the "dumbing down" of society and of hip-hop, said Michael Muhammad, founder of KBOL-FM 100.1 and fellow Nation of Islam follower.

"Hip-hop has been affected by commercialization (and) mainstream objectives," he said. "But there's a new growth of consciousness, or a rebirth, in hip-hop. I think that Brother Lamont and others like him throughout the country are representing that new growth and will inspire and educate our young people."

In the opening track of the "The Origin," the artist says "The Original Man" represents "more than a response to pain and the torture of 450 years of slavery." Instead, the moniker is available to anyone who devotes time to reflection and improvement.

Reading between the lines, listeners learn that education is a large part of that process. In his songs, Muhammad cites the work of activist R&B singer Curtis Mayfield, the South's Jim Crow laws and the election of Barack Obama - all subjects the musician examined in his personal journey to self-realization.

Day job

Hip-hop is "becoming a passion" for Muhammad, who spends his days teaching multiplication tables and reading skills to his students. He often combines his two loves by crafting raps that teach key concepts. A few of his young charges even own his CD.

"The parents let them get it because there's no cussing, and I talk about some of the things they are going through right now," said Muhammad, a married man with four children. "In one of the songs I talk about students being truant, or not seeing education as relevant."

He also hopes references to his own struggles prevent youngsters from making the same mistakes he did, while realizing that despite their background, they can succeed.

"As a teacher, I don't mind saying I've been through this," Muhammad said. "I try to speak for people who have been in my situation."

The album can be purchased locally at Earth's Beauty Supply, The Mane Connection, Barnes & Noble and C & Y Sports at Crossroads Mall. Tracks also are available online at MySpace and cdbaby.com, and feature other Waterloo artists including Jontay Damar and Reatha Phillips. Muhammad is working hard to introduce his new tunes to the Cedar Valley.

"This is something for people of all classes, all colors, all creeds," he said. "I want people to get something out of it - a message - but, at the same time, I still want them to be able to nod their head to it."