{"id":26123,"date":"2022-09-29T18:37:15","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T18:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=26123"},"modified":"2022-09-29T18:37:17","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T18:37:17","slug":"from-gangstas-paradise-to-reality-tv-coolio-was-a-stone-faced-rapper-who-softened-hearts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/09\/29\/from-gangstas-paradise-to-reality-tv-coolio-was-a-stone-faced-rapper-who-softened-hearts\/","title":{"rendered":"From Gangsta\u2019s Paradise to reality TV, Coolio was a stone-faced rapper who softened hearts"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

His signature song owned the airwaves and proved that an emcee could be gangster and gregarious<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coolio\u2019s hairstyle was one of a kind: trademark twists sat atop his head like Medusa\u2019s snakes. It was a look that defined 1990s hip-hop as much as Tupac\u2019s nose piercing and Flavor Flav\u2019s clock chain, even if no one ever imitated it (perhaps only Coolio had the dexterity to thread those thin braids through the holes of his baseball cap).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, the rapper \u2013 real name Artis Leon Ivey Jr \u2013 died at a friend\u2019s house in Los Angeles, his manager said. The 59-year-old was a critical figure in establishing west coast hip-hop\u2019s 1970s-flavored R&B sound \u2013 the style that would come to be known as G-funk \u2013 in the mainstream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a pure emcee, he had a way with words and delivered them with the urgency of a man cruising around town in a lowrider \u2013 another favorite hobby of his. And yet for all of Coolio\u2019s obvious skill, which really shows up in his early work (he recorded his first single in 1987), he\u2019s easily summed up in one song: Gangsta\u2019s Paradise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gangsta\u2019s Paradise was too hypnotic too escape<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That single, which headlined a sophomore album of the same name and was also featured on the soundtrack for the 1995 Michelle Pfeiffer film Dangerous Minds, owned the airwaves. It was arguably the beginning of rap music truly going pop. It topped the charts in 14 countries and locked out the top two spots on Billboard\u2019s US Hot 100 list on the way to going triple platinum. The music video, directed by The Equalizer\u2019s Antoine Fuqua and also featuring Pfeiffer, dominated music television and has since surpassed 1bn YouTube views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The song, which interpolates Stevie Wonder\u2019s Pastime Paradise and a swelling church choir, arguably showcases the most doleful version of Coolio. And yet it was too hypnotic to escape. \u201cIt chose me as the vessel,\u201d Coolio would say of his signature song \u2013 which Entertainment Weekly dubbed \u201cthe bleakest tune to ever top the pop charts\u201d. Idolator went one better, calling it \u201crap rhapsody\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gangsta\u2019s Paradise didn\u2019t just crush the competition and win Coolio a Grammy. Even the \u201cWeird Al\u201d Yankovic parody, Amish Paradise (which featured the bespectacled satirist on the cover with his hair styled like Coolio\u2019s) made it to No 53 on the Hot 100 list in 1996. That this send-up became the sore spot of his most public rap beef is, in some ways, so Coolio \u2013 who initially felt he was being clowned. It didn\u2019t help that Dangerous Minds, with its heavy-handed white savior themes, would go on to be regarded as something of a joke, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"coolio<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Coolio performs in Belgium 2000. Photograph: Gie Knaeps\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in time \u2013 after cashing many royalty checks, says Yankovic, who remained reverential of Coolio throughout \u2013 the rapper came to see Amish Paradise as the ultimate tribute. \u201cI mean, he did Michael Jackson. He did Prince. You know, people who were definitely more talented than I am,\u201d Coolio said in a 2016 appearance on the YouTube show Hot Ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coolio, who churned out eight studio albums and collaborated with everyone from Janet Jackson to Kenny Rogers, doesn\u2019t get enough credit for setting the tone for people like Snoop Dogg and Busta Rhymes. And he doesn\u2019t get enough love for making Fantastic Voyage, 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin\u2019 New) and other G-funk classics that still turn a party out today. With that hair, his bouncing lowriders and his generally chill vibe, he proved that a rapper could be gangster and gregarious.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since news of his death broke late on Wednesday, condolences have poured in from all corners. On Instagram, Pfeiffer said she was \u201cheartbroken\u201d to learn of Coolio\u2019s passing, while Hillary Clinton pronounced his death \u201ca big loss\u201d. \u201cI witness [sic] first hand this man\u2019s grind to the top of the industry,\u201d tweeted Ice Cube. The rocker Bret Michaels remembered him as an \u201cawesome guy who will be missed\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Coolio,<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he wasn\u2019t topping the charts, he was walking on to awards shows, celebrity basketball games, sitcoms, films and even kids\u2019 shows \u2013 providing the theme song for the Nickelodeon variety show Kenan & Kel. Every time Coolio showed up, whether on screen over a speaker, he left you smiling. It hardly mattered that most times he\u2019d be playing himself. Who else could?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his later years he had become a creature of reality TV, with appearances on Big Brother UK and Marriage Boot Camp \u2013 all while remaining a robust concert draw. He has also been candid about overcoming poverty and substance abuse on his rise to fame and contrite about past crimes \u2013 not least, multiple gun possession charges that complicated past international tours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Medusa might have turned her onlookers to stone, but Coolio did just the opposite. He was a stone-face who softened hearts and never took himself too seriously, snake hair and all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

story by Andrew Lawrence<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His signature song owned the airwaves and proved that an emcee could be gangster and gregarious Coolio\u2019s hairstyle was one of a kind: trademark twists sat atop his head like Medusa\u2019s snakes. It was a look that defined 1990s hip-hop as much as Tupac\u2019s nose piercing and Flavor Flav\u2019s clock chain, even if no one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":26082,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[80,56],"tags":[4791,11974,8112,6734,6942,10282,4730,13263,7599,7893,9194,6537,12679,11088,8087,7234,5241,11067,6646,7090,8088,8089,3270,9807,1143,10925,3129,8394,10954,7356,1622,7236,7123,6220,12791,5802,4792,5058,11973,9431,9028,428,11732,8959,2155,9277,3907,7302,12605,6348,10786,8033,6571,3954,10415,594,9550],"class_list":["post-26123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-features","tag-abuse","tag-album","tag-artis-leon-ivey-jr","tag-basketball","tag-belgium","tag-billboard","tag-busta-rhymes","tag-cap","tag-celebrity","tag-chain","tag-charges","tag-church","tag-clinton","tag-concert","tag-coolio","tag-death","tag-died","tag-escape","tag-flavor-flav","tag-games","tag-gangsta","tag-gangstas-paradise","tag-grammy","tag-gun","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-ice","tag-ice-cube","tag-instagram","tag-international","tag-jackson","tag-janet-jackson","tag-kids","tag-los-angeles","tag-love","tag-manager","tag-marriage","tag-michael-jackson","tag-music","tag-one","tag-poverty","tag-rap","tag-rapper","tag-sic","tag-snakes","tag-snoop-dogg","tag-speaker","tag-stevie-wonder","tag-tupac","tag-uk","tag-us","tag-vessel","tag-video","tag-white","tag-will","tag-work","tag-who","tag-youtube"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}