{"id":2038,"date":"2022-10-01T21:28:58","date_gmt":"2022-10-02T01:28:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/2022\/10\/01\/coolio-gangstas-paradise-rapper-dead-at-59\/"},"modified":"2022-10-01T21:28:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T01:28:58","slug":"coolio-gangstas-paradise-rapper-dead-at-59","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/2022\/10\/01\/coolio-gangstas-paradise-rapper-dead-at-59\/","title":{"rendered":"Coolio, \u2018Gangsta\u2019s Paradise\u2019 rapper, dead at 59"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coolio, the \u201990s rapper who lit up the music charts with hits like \u201cGangsta\u2019s Paradise\u201d and \u201cFantastic Voyage,\u201d has died, his friend and manager Jarez Posey, told CNN. He was 59.<\/p>

Posey said Coolio died Wednesday afternoon.<\/p>

Details on the circumstances were not immediately available.<\/p>

When contacted by CNN, Capt. Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department confirmed that firefighters and paramedics responded to a call on the 2900 block of South Chesapeake Ave. at 4 p.m. local time for reports of a medical emergency. When they arrived, they found an unresponsive male and performed \u201cresuscitation efforts for approximately 45 minutes.\u201d<\/p>

The patient \u201cwas determined dead just before 5:00 p.m.,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>

An autopsy performed on Coolio Thursday did not reveal the cause or manner of Coolio\u2019s death and further investigation will be conducted, according to case information from the county coroner..<\/p>

\u201cWe are saddened by the loss of our dear friend and client,\u201d a statement provided to CNN from Coolio\u2019s talent manager Sheila Finegan said.<\/p>

\u201cHe touched the world with the gift of his talent and will be missed profoundly. Thank you to everyone worldwide who has listened to his music and to everyone who has been reaching out regarding his passing. Please have Coolio\u2019s loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.\u201d<\/p>

Actor Lou Diamond Phillips also offered his condolences as he recounted some memories with the artist.<\/p>

\u201cI am absolutely stunned. Coolio was a friend and one of the warmest, funniest people I\u2019ve ever met. We spent an amazing time together making Red Water in Capetown and we loved going head to head in the kitchen. He was one of a kind. Epic,Legendary and I\u2019ll miss him,\u201d Phillips said in a tweet<\/a>.<\/p>

Former NBA player Matt Bonner also recalled time spent with Coolio, saying in a Twitter post<\/a> the rapper was a \u201chuge hoops fan\u2026 we hosted him at a game a few years back\u2026 biggest crowd of all-time at a Spurs Overtime concert.\u201d<\/p>

Coolio grew up in Compton, California, according to a bio on his official website<\/a>.<\/p>

Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 1994<\/a>, he recalled falling into the drug scene but getting himself out by pursuing a career as a firefighter.<\/p>

\"Coolio,<\/figure>

Coolio, pictured on September 08, 2022.<\/p>

\u201cI wasn\u2019t looking for a career, I was looking for a way to clean up \u2013 a way to escape the drug thing,\u201d he told the publication. \u201cIt 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\u2019t drinking or smoking or doing the stuff I usually did.\u201d<\/p>

His rap career began in the \u201980s, and he gained fame in the underground scene.<\/p>

\u201cFantastic Voyage\u201d was the first song that really put him on the map.<\/p>

Arguably his biggest song, \u201cGangsta\u2019s Paradise,\u201d from the soundtrack to the film \u201cDangerous Minds,\u201d grew his star power to gigantic proportions. He won a Grammy in 1996 for the song.<\/p>

In the age of streaming, it has continued to live on. In July 2022, the song reached a milestone one billion views<\/a> on YouTube.<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those kinds of songs that transcends generations,\u201d he said in a recent interview<\/a>. \u201cI didn\u2019t use any trendy words\u2026I think it made it timeless.\u201d<\/p>

Over his career, Coolio sold more than 17 million records, according to his website.<\/p>

Coolio also has a special place in the hearts of some Millennials for his work on the theme song for the popular Nickelodeon TV series \u201cKenan and Kel\u201d and his contribution to the album \u201cDexter\u2019s Laboratory: The Hip-Hop Experiment,\u201d which featured songs by various hip-hop artists that were inspired by the Cartoon Network animated series.<\/p>

In recent years, Coolio enjoyed the perks of being a nostalgic figure, making television appearances on shows like \u201cCelebrity Cook Off\u201d and \u201cCelebrity Chopped.\u201d<\/p>

He also had a show on Oxygen, \u201cCoolio\u2019s Rules,\u201d that aired 2008.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coolio, the \u201990s rapper who lit up the music charts with hits like \u201cGangsta\u2019s Paradise\u201d and \u201cFantastic Voyage,\u201d has died, his friend and manager Jarez Posey, told CNN. He was 59. Posey said Coolio died Wednesday afternoon. Details on the circumstances were not immediately available. When contacted by CNN, Capt. Erik Scott of the Los […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2039,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gynesisradio.com\/tpsquare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}