LOS ANGELES — Coolio, the rapper who was amongst hip-hop’s largest names of the Nineteen Nineties with hits together with “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Unbelievable Voyage,” died final 12 months due to fentanyl, his supervisor stated.
Coolio’s former longtime supervisor Jarez Posey instructed The Related Press Thursday that Coolio’s reason for demise was fentanyl and that he additionally had traces of heroin and methamphetamine in his system.
The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Workplace listed his demise as unintentional and cited cardiomyopathy as a “vital situation.”
Posey additionally confirmed that investigators decided Coolio’s extreme bronchial asthma and cigarette smoking performed a task in his demise.
Coolio — born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., on Aug. 1, 1963 — died on the Los Angeles dwelling of a pal on Sept. 28, 2022. He was 59.
Coolio received a Grammy for finest solo rap efficiency for “Gangsta’s Paradise,” the 1995 hit from the soundtrack of the Michelle Pfeiffer movie “Harmful Minds” that sampled Stevie Surprise’s 1976 music “Pastime Paradise.”
Coolio was born in Monessen, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Compton, California.
He began rapping at 15 and knew by 18 it was what he wished to do together with his life, he stated in interviews. Coolio attended group school earlier than devoting himself full-time to the hip-hop scene.
His profession album gross sales totaled 4.8 million, with 978 million on-demand streams of his songs, in keeping with Luminate. He could be nominated for a complete of six Grammys.
Along with his distinctive individual, he turned a cultural staple, appearing sometimes, offering a voice for an animated present and offering the theme music for a Nickelodeon sitcom.
Coolio’s property plans to launch a studio album later this 12 months that he had been engaged on within the days earlier than he died.
