Coolio, a legendary rapper best known for the single “Gangster’s Paradise” from the 1995 movie Dangerous Minds, died on Wednesday while visiting a friend in Los Angeles.
He was 59 years old.
Details regarding the tragedy are still coming in, and no cause of death has been announced.
But here is what we know at the moment…
According to TMZ insiders, Coolio was at the aforementioned friend’s residence when he got up to use the bathroom.
After having been gone for a lengthy period of time, the friend went to check on the artist — and found him passed out on the floor.
This friend called 911… paramedics arrived at the scene… and almost immediately pronounced the star dead.
The friend told these technicians that Coolio suffered a cardiac arrest, but there’s no official confirmation.
“As far as what I know now is that he was at a friend’s house and was in his bathroom and had a heart attack,” his manager, Jarez Posey, said in a brief statement this evening.
The rapper’s death comes just four days after he took to Instagram to post his latest performance in Texas.
Coolio won a Grammy Award for Gangsta’s Paradise, which spent three weeks at the top of Billboard’s Hot 100 list.
Other hits in his catalog included “Fantastic Voyage,” which climbed to number-three on Billboard’s Hot 100; as well as “1,2,3,4 (Sumpin’ New)” and “It’s All the Way Live (Now).”
Coolio was born Artis Leon Ivey Jr. in 1963 in Monessen, Pennsylvania, eventually moving to Compton, California.
The artist’s first single, “Whatcha Gonna Do?,” came out in 1987. He also recorded “What Makes You Dance (Force Groove)” with Nu-Skool in 1988.
In the early 1990s, Coolio began to rise in the Los Angeles rap scene, joining WC And The Maad Circle and contributing to the group’s debut album, Ain’t A Damn Thang Changed.
In 1994, Coolio signed to Tommy Boy Records and released his solo debut album, It Takes A Thief.
At the 1997 Grammy Awards, Coolio earned three nominations: Best Rap Album for Gangsta’s Paradise, Best Rap Solo Performance for “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New),” and Best R&B Vocal Performance By A Duo Or Group for “Stomp.”
Coolio recorded eight albums total across his impressive career, with his final record being 2009’s From The Bottom 2 The Top.
In more recent years, he appeared on television, playing himself on Fox’s comedy puppet show Let’s Be Real in 2021 and cameoing on the TV Land show Teachers in 2017, among other roles.
We send our condolences to the late musician’s friends, family members and loved ones.
May Coolio rest in peace.
