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.”