{"id":83190,"date":"2022-09-30T22:17:11","date_gmt":"2022-09-30T22:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/coolio-obituary-rap-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2022-09-30T22:17:11","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T22:17:11","slug":"coolio-obituary-rap-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/coolio-obituary-rap-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Coolio obituary | Rap | The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Coolio, who has died suddenly aged 59, was an accessible star of the US west coast hip-hop scene whose 1995 single Gangsta’s Paradise became one of the most successful rap songs of all time, topping charts around the world.<\/p>\n

Although he had emerged in the late 1980s from the same Los Angeles neighborhood as the combative hip-hop artists Dr Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube and the rest of the NWA crew, Coolio’s subject matter and demeanour were lightweight in comparison with some of his peers. Gangsta’s Paradise, which appeared in the movie Dangerous Minds (1995), starring Michelle Pfeiffer, took as its topic the short and brutal existence of the career criminal, but its poppy tones reflected Coolio’s more melodic and playful positioning at the lighter end of rap.<\/p>\n

It was a formula that served Coolio well in the late 90s as his first two albums sold millions of copies worldwide. But after five years in the spotlight he fell out of favor as other hip-hop artists came into the mainstream, and for the next three decades he was perhaps better known for his chirpy work in reality TV, gameshows and film.<\/p>\n

Coolio’s real name was Artis Ivey. Born in the small town of Monessen, Pennsylvania, to Jackie Slater, a factory worker, and Artis Ivey Sr, a carpenter, at the age of 11 he moved with his mother to Compton, a tough, gang-ridden area of \u200b\u200bLA.<\/p>\n

At high school and then Compton Community College he was a bright pupil, making a name for himself as a rapper on the local scene, where his slick performances earned him the nickname \u201cCoolio Iglesias\u201d after the Spanish singer Julio, later shortened to Coolio. His early work was featured on the Los Angeles hip-hop radio station KDAY and he released his first single, Whatcha Gonna Do ?, in 1987, to muted response.<\/p>\n

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