Coolio, the ’90s rapper who lit up the music charts with hits like “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage,” has passed away, his friend and manager Jarez Posey, stated. He was 59.
“We are saddened by the loss of our dear friend and client, Coolio, who passed away this afternoon,” a statement provided to CNN from Coolio’s talent manager Sheila Finegan said.
“He 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’s loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.”
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According to multiple reports, Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) frantically tried to revive Coolio after his body was found in a downtown LA. home, but after 45 minutes of CPR he was pronounced dead.
TMZ reported that Coolio was at a friend's home late Wednesday afternoon when he went to the bathroom. He was apparently in there for quite a while, and then the friend became concerned and began calling for him. When Coolio didn't respond, the friend went inside the bathroom and found the rapper laying on the floor.
Police did not find drugs or paraphernalia in the bathroom.
While we have not been able to confirm with medical reports, the manager says he was told Coolio had a heart attack.
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Born as 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.
“I wasn’t looking for a career, I was looking for a way to clean up – a way to escape the drug thing,” he said. “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.
Arguably his biggest song, “Gangsta’s Paradise,” from the soundtrack to the film “Dangerous Minds,” grew his star power to gigantic proportions. He won a Grammy in 1996 for the song.
When it comes to his TV and movie appearances, Coolio did nearly 30 movies, and in 2008 the show Coolio's Rules debuted that focused on Coolio and his family, living in Los Angeles, California. In 2009, Coolio appeared as a housemate on Celebrity Big Brother. He later went to appear on Ultimate Big Brother in 2010, where he decided it was best to leave the house after numerous confrontations with Nadia Almada and others there. In January 2012, he was one of eight celebrities participating in the Food Network reality television series Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off, where he represented the Music Saves Lives Organization. He also guest starred as himself on Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
Coolio is featured on the March 5, 2013, episode of the ABC reality program Wife Swap,[28] but his then-girlfriend left him after the program was taped. On June 30, 2013, he appeared alongside comedian Jenny Eclair and Emmerdale actor Matthew Wolfenden on the UK game show Tipping Point: Lucky Stars, where he came in second. Also on June 30, Coolio voiced a wax figure of himself on Gravity Falls. He also appears on "Homie-Work", a 1998 episode of The Nanny, in which he portrays a nerdy man, a "gift wrapper", transformed by the Jewish nanny into a "Rapper" for Maxwell Sheffield's new rap musical.
In July 2016, Coolio performed on ABC's Greatest Hits.
Coolio guest starred on a 2014 episode of the Adult Swim show Black Jesus titled "Gangsta's Paradise".
Social media continues to be hit with reactions to the star's 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."
