Casey Veggies Graduates, Despite Sleeping In Class

The last year has been a breakout one for Los Angeles MC Casey Veggies, who released his third mixtape, Sleeping in Class, in December and toured with fellow up-and-comer Mac Miller in January. What's more amazing is that while this was going on, he was still in school. And on June 16, Veggies (or, as his diploma says, Casey Jones) graduated from Inglewood High School on the honor roll.

"On the first week of school, he gave me a link to a video of one of the songs that he has [on Sleeping in Class], so my first impression of him was good, but I was a little concerned, because of the lyrics to the song," Casey's senior-year English teacher Shannon Kirk told. "It's actually kind of ironic because [sleeping in class is] the last thing he would do in class.

"Casey balances his work life and his school life better than I probably would have at his age," Kirk added of her student, who did independent study while he was on the road. "He's pretty mature for his age, and he was able to do pretty well. [He] was one of the top students in my class."

Veggies realized that he could have quit school to pursue his dreams, but he never felt the need to. He knew he could handle it, so why not get school done? As for college, though his mother says he was accepted to four schools, he's postponing those plans while he sees where his rap career goes.

"At the end of the day, I'm just dreaming right now," Casey said. "I'm going to stay in my dream and don't plan on waking up. If I do, maybe I'll grab a college degree, but right now, I'm in my own world."

Kirk wouldn't tell us Casey's grades, but his mother, Cynthia Jones, was thrilled that her son made the honor roll. She said that education meant everything to her and her husband, and their goal was always for Casey and his older brother, Corey, to graduate high school and attend college as they had. Corey is currently a freshman at UC Riverside, but Casey had to convince her that he could take another route.

"I had no idea that his music thing was going to come about the way it has," Jones said. "This is different to accept, but he's doing really well, so you have to let a person follow [their dreams]. You're only young once.

"I'm excited, I'm happy for him," she continued, "and then I'm happy he doesn't have to juggle these two lives, because it has been a juggle for him, so now he can concentrate on one thing."