*Rapper Coolio has died at age 59, his manager confirmed in a statement to TMZ.
Coolio’s manager, Jarez Posey, told TMZ that the artist was visiting a friend when he passed away on Wednesday (Sept. 28).
“As far as what I know now is that he was at a friend’s house and was in his bathroom and had a heart attack,” his manager Posey said, NBC News reports
TMZ reports that paramedics were called to a house in Los Angeles and pronounced Coolio dead. Law enforcement sources launched a death investigation but there are no signs of foul play, according to the outlet. An autopsy is underway.
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Coolio, whose real name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr., released eight studio albums and starred in the 2008 reality show, “Coolio’s Rules,” on Oxygen.
The Grammy-winning entertainer shot to fame with the hit single “Gangsta’s Paradise.”
He is survived by his six children and ex-wife Josefa Salina.
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Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in 1994, he recalled falling into the drug scene but getting himself out by pursuing a career as a firefighter.
“I wasn’t looking for a career, I was looking for a way to clean up — a way to escape the drug thing,” he told the publication. “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.
In the age of streaming, it has continued to live on. In July 2022, the song reached a milestone of one billion views on YouTube.
“It’s one of those kinds of songs that transcends generations,” he said in a recent interview. “I didn’t use any trendy words…I think it made it timeless.”
Over his career, Coolio sold more than 17 million records, according to his website.
Below is an interview that Coolio did with Keith O’Derek back in the 1990s for his Fox 11 series, “Straight from the Streets.”
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