Coolio, one of the most representative musicians of the Los Angeles urban scene and author of hits of the years 1990 such as “Gangsta’s Paradise“, died this Wednesday at 59 years old, confirmed his representative.
The rapper passed away in the afternoon at the a friend’s house, who, after verifying that he did not come out or answer his call, went to look for him in the bathroom and found him dead of a heart attack, according to his representative Jarez Posey.
“What I know it is that he was at a friend’s house, he went to the bathroom and died of a heart attack, ”Posey explained in statements collected by the NBC network.
Coolio, whose original name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr., rose to fame in the 1990 as one of the best-known names in Californian rap.
His peak of success came in 1995, when he published the song “Gangsta’s Paradise” as part of the “Dangerous Minds” soundtrack, which became one of the most popular rap songs to date, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for three weeks and won a Grammy Award.
The song had such an impact on pop culture that it even had a satire, “Amish Paradise” by Weird Al Yankovic, whose lyrics was totally contrary to the original.
The rapper was born in 1963 in the state of Pennsylvania, but moved to the south of Los Angeles at the end of the years 80 to start their musical career with the publication of the album “It Takes a Thief”, from which they got rid of singles like “Fantastic Voyage” and “It Takes a Thief”.
Among the albums he subsequently released, stand out “My Soul”, “Coolio.com”, “El Cool Magnifico” -with nods to the Latino community of Los Angeles-, “The Return of the Gangsta”, “Steal Hear and “From the Bottom 2 the Top”.
In parallel to the music, Coolio also participated in the world audiovisual with more than 100 credits in series and movies, in addition to publishing the cookbook and the program “Cookin’ with Coolio”.