the rapper Coolioone of the most representative musicians of the Los Angeles urban scene and author of hits from the 1990s such as “Gangsta’s Paradise”, He died this Wednesday at the age of 59, confirmed his representative.
The musician died in the followingnoon at a friend’s house, who, following verifying that he did not go out or answer his calls, went to look for him in the bathroom and found him dead from a heart attack, according to his representative Jarez Posey.
“What I know is that he was at a friend’s house, 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 1990s as one of the biggest names in California rap.
His peak of success came in 1995, when he released the song “Gangsta’s Paradise” as part of the “Dangerous Minds” soundtrack, which became one of the most popular rap songs up to that date. With the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 3 weeks and won a Grammy Award.
In fact, the topic so impacted pop culture that it became a satire“Amish Paradise” by Weird Al Yankovic, whose lyrics were totally contrary to the original.
The rapper was born in 1963 in the state of Pennsylvaniabut moved to South Los Angeles in the late 1980s to launch his music career with the release of the album “It Takes a Thief” which spawned singles like “Fantastic Voyage” and “It Takes a Thief.”
Among the albums that he subsequently published, 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 y “From the Bottom 2 the Top”.
Parallel to the music Coolio also participated in the audiovisual world with more than 100 credits in series and movies, in addition to publishing the cookbook and the program “Cookin’ with Coolio”.
