FILE -
Coolio
performs
during
the "I
Love The
90's"
tour on
Aug. 7,
2022, at
RiverEdge
Park in
Aurora,
Ill.
Coolio,
the
rapper
who was
among
hip-hop's
biggest
names of
the
1990s
with
hits
including
“Gangsta's
Paradise”
and
“Fantastic
Voyage,”
died
Wednesday,
Sept.
28,
2022, at
age 59,
his
manager
said.
(Photo
by Rob
Grabowski/Invision/AP,
File) |
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'Gangsta's
Paradise'
rapper
Coolio
dies at
age 59
By
JONATHAN
LANDRUM
Jr.
and
ANDREW
DALTON
apnews.com
LOS
ANGELES
- Coolio,
the
rapper
who was
among
hip-hop’s
biggest
names of
the
1990s
with
hits
including
“Gangsta’s
Paradise”
and
“Fantastic
Voyage,”
died
Wednesday
at age
59, his
manager
said.
Coolio
died at
the Los
Angeles
home of
a
friend,
longtime
manager
Jarez
Posey
told The
Associated
Press.
The
cause
was not
immediately
clear.
Coolio
won a
Grammy
for best
solo rap
performance
for
“Gangsta’s
Paradise,”
the 1995
hit from
the
soundtrack
of the
Michelle
Pfeiffer
film
“Dangerous
Minds”
that
sampled
Stevie
Wonder’s
1976
song
“Pastime
Paradise”
and was
played
constantly
on MTV.
The
Grammy,
and the
height
of his
popularity,
came in
1996,
amid a
fierce
feud
between
the
hip-hop
communities
of the
two
coasts,
which
would
take the
lives of
Tupac
Shakur
and The
Notorious
B.I.G.
soon
after.
Coolio
managed
to stay
mostly
above
the
conflict.
“I’d
like to
claim
this
Grammy
on
behalf
of the
whole
hip-hop
nation,
West
Coast,
East
Coast,
and
worldwide,
united
we
stand,
divided
we
fall,”
he said
from the
stage as
he
accepted
the
award.
Born
Artis
Leon
Ivey
Jr., in
Monessen,
Pennsylvania
south of
Pittsburgh,
Coolio
moved to
Compton,
California.
He spent
some
time as
a teen
in
Northern
California,
where
his
mother
sent him
because
she felt
the city
was too
dangerous.
He said
in
interviews
that he
started
rapping
at 15
and knew
by 18 it
was what
he
wanted
to do
with his
life,
but
would go
to
community
college
and work
as a
volunteer
firefighter
and in
airport
security
before
devoting
himself
full-time
to the
hip-hop
scene.
His
career
took off
with the
1994
release
of his
debut
album on
Tommy
Boy
Records,
“It
Takes a
Thief.”
It’s
opening
track,
“Fantastic
Voyage,”
would
reach
No. 3 on
the
Billboard
Hot 100.
A year
later,
“Gangsta’s
Paradise”
would
become a
No. 1
single,
with its
dark
opening
lyrics:
“As I
walk
through
the
valley
of the
shadow
of
death, I
take a
look at
my life
and
realize
there’s
not much
left,
‘cause
I’ve
been
blastin’
and
laughin’
so long,
that
even my
mama
thinks
that my
mind is
gone.”
Social
media
lit up
with
reactions
to the
unexpected
death.
“This is
sad
news,”
Ice Cube
said on
Twitter.
“I
witness
first
hand
this
man’s
grind to
the top
of the
industry.
Rest In
Peace, @Coolio.”
“Weird
Al”
Yankovic
tweeted
“RIP
Coolio”
along
with a
picture
of the
two men
hugging.
Coolio
had said
in an
interview
at the
time it
was
released
that he
wasn’t
cool
with
Yankovic’s
1996
“Gangsta’s
Paradise”
parody,
“Amish
Paradise.”
But the
two
later
made
peace.
The
rapper
would
never
again
have a
song
nearly
as big
as
“Gangsta’s
Paradise,”
but had
subsequent
hits
with
1996′s
“1, 2,
3, 4 (Sumpin’
New)”
(1996),
and
1997′s
“C U
When U
Get
There.”
His
career
album
sales
totaled
4.8
million,
with 978
million
on-demand
streams
of his
songs,
according
to
Luminate.
He would
be
nominated
for six
Grammys
overall.
And with
his
distinctive
persona
he would
become a
cultural
staple,
acting
occasionally,
starring
in a
reality
show
about
parenting
called “Coolio’s
Rules,”
providing
a voice
for an
episode
of the
animated
show
“Gravity
Falls”
and
providing
the
theme
music
for the
Nickelodeon
sitcom “Kenan
& Kel.”
He had
occasional
legal
troubles,
including
a 1998
conviction
in
Stuttgart,
Germany,
where an
boutique
shop
owner
said he
punched
her when
she
tried to
stop him
from
taking
merchandise
without
paying.
He was
sentenced
to six
months
probation
and
fined
$30,000.
He was
married
to
Josefa
Salinas
from
1996 to
2000.
They had
four
children
together.
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