RAPPING DOCTOR KEEPING HIS OWN BEAT : RESIDENT AT HOSPITAL IN PASADENA ENCOURAGES KIDS TO PURSUE DREAMS.

Byline: Jane E. Allen Associated Press

Dr. Sam Kojoglanian - also known as Dr. Rap - knows a thing or two about the power of hope.

For one, he survived two ego-crushing rounds of rejections before winning admission to medical school and realizing his boyhood dream of becoming a doctor.

For another, he didn't give up when a record producer took $10,000, promised to make him a rap star, then disappeared with the cash.

Undaunted, he depleted the rest of his lifetime savings to release ``Licensed to Heal,'' a CD with cuts like ``Rigor Mortis'' and ``Code of Ethics.''

And if that's not enough for you, imagine that he didn't even speak - let along sing - English until he was 9 years old.

``Don't let no one talk you out of your dreams,'' he says.

That's experience talking. After all, he defied a dream-busting adviser who once said: ``I don't think you have what it takes to make it in medicine.''

Dr. Rap is a handsome, nattily dressed Armenian immigrant who mastered English amid the drawls of Chattanooga, Tenn., and later learned music on his own. He earned his undergraduate, graduate and medical degrees at the University of Southern California.

Somehow, he's made a niche for himself, with his white coat, stethoscope and blue scrubs, in the baggy-pants world of rap and hip-hop.

Give him a boombox and a microphone, or just a willing audience of two in a quiet hospital room, and he lets fly an infectious, upbeat sound.

``Good, betta, best/Never let them rest/until your good is betta/and your betta is best,'' he rapped one recent day after examining patient Vernon Smith at Huntington Hospital.

Smith, 68, weakened from kidney disease and quintuple bypass surgery, mustered a smile and started tapping his toes.

Talk about bedside manner.

``About nine to 10 years ago, I heard something cool called rap. I thought, maybe I can do this,'' Kojoglanian says in an interview between patient visits at the hospital where he's a second-year resident in internal medicine. ``It took me a good two to three weeks to get a song down.

``As I continued to listen to rap music, I thought, this is not the message I like. It demeans women, it demeans authority.''

So he began writing his own songs to give kids ``hope and guidance'' and Dr. Rap was born.

Last month, he put his talent to the test with the release of 1,000 ``Licensed to Heal'' CDs and 1,000 cassettes. He hasn't yet persuaded big distributors to handle him, but he's optimistic.

``This is the biggest risk I've taken so far in life,'' says the ever-smiling doctor, whose employer supports his musical quest.

``I'm Sam's personal publicist,'' jokes Toni Miller, a spokeswoman for the hospital, which will earmark a percentage of Dr. Rap CD sales in its gift shop for emergency care. ``We believe the message of what he's doing. The more people we can affect in the community, the fewer we see in the ER.''

Kojoglanian's music reflects a commitment to the victims of gang violence and domestic abuse who arrive mangled and bleeding in his emergency room.

``These kids are really hurting,'' he says. ``I'm telling them stories that happen every day in my life.''

Somehow, when this 30-year-old says he wants ``to become a great cardiologist one day, to touch the hearts of a broken generation,'' you've got to believe him. He's just so ardent.

Dr. Rap sings about a dying 15-year-old gunshot victim admitted to the emergency room with fingers hanging by threads.

As the images come alive in his lyrics, he also warns young toughs that if they stay on the streets, ``I'm gonna see your funky face in my ER.''

``When I talk to the kids, I don't preach at them. I talk to them in their language and their lingo,'' he says, before sliding seamlessly into street talk to demonstrate.

``Yo, homeboy, what's up?'' he asks in a dead-on imitation of a gangbanger.

He's just as adept with colleagues.

``You call him for help and all you get is `What can I do for you?' '' says Dr. Stanley Kalter, medical director of Huntington's emergency and trauma center. ``His positive personality comes out in the rap.''

In Kalter's ER, music is a staple and Dr. Rap's CD can be heard as doctors race to treat the injured and ill.

Kojoglanian's mentor, cardiologist Dr. Joel Heger, pinpoints two striking qualities in his protege: ``a dogged work ethic'' and ``a very good way with making people feel that he's interested in them.''

When Heger first learned of Dr. Rap's performances, he asked him to entertain during grand rounds. He expected to hear a passable singer.

``I was surprised. Sure enough, he is really good,'' Heger said.

As Dr. Rap says: ``You can be/Anything you dream to be.''

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Photo

Photo: Dr. Samuel Kojoglanian, a University of Southern California graduate, produced his own album of rap songs under the moniker Dr. Rap.

Associated Press