Coolio, ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ rapper, dead at 59
Coolio, the ’90s rapper who lit up the music charts with hits like “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage,” has died, his friend and manager Jarez Posey, told CNN. He was 59.
Posey said Coolio died in the afternoon hours local time in Los Angles on Wednesday.
Details on the circumstances were not immediately available.
Coolio grew up in Compton, California, according to a bio on his official website.
Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 1994, he recalled falling into the drug scene but getting himself out by pursuing a career as a firefighter.
Coolio, pictured on September 08, 2022.
Coolio, pictured on September 08, 2022.
“I wasn’t looking for a career, I was looking for a way to clean up – a way to escape the drug thing,” he told the publication. “It was going to kill me and I knew I had to stop. In firefighting training was discipline I needed. We ran every day. I wasn’t drinking or smoking or doing the stuff I usually did.”
His rap career began in the ’80s and he gained fame in the underground scene.
“Fantastic Voyage” was the first song that really put him on the map.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/28/entertainment/coolio-obit/index.html?fbclid=IwAR1uJOEU9NNfNFXMvQKMlMmtu3hr9Jrr5dEXCMkQK0qbVsZkaSauG-Hnzz0
