American rapper Coolio, author of Gangsta’s Paradise, success defined the hip hop commercial of the nineties, has died suddenly this Wednesday in Los Angeles, while, according to the celebrity information website TMZI was visiting a friend’s house. She was 59 years old. His longtime representative, Jarez Posey, confirmed the death.
He had a career before and another after that milestone, which catapulted him to fame thanks to his inclusion in the soundtrack of the film. Dangerous minds (John N. Smith, 1995), in which Michelle Pfeiffer played a struggling white teacher at a troubled high school in a black neighborhood. But that phenomenon turned him into what the industry knows as a “one hit wonder”, a one-hit artist. The composition, which was based on the old success of Stevie Wonder, Pastime Paradise, included in his masterpiece Songs in the Key of Life (1976), earned Coolio the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Solo Rap Performance. The album went triple platinum.
On several occasions he lamented that this song, which begins with some memorable verses that mark its melancholy tone (“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there’s nothin’ left”)would overshadow the rest of his career. In a way, Gangsta’s Paradise demonstrated the commercial possibilities of still young rap at a time when on the West Coast of the United States it was synonymous with dangerous music, not recommended, thanks to the aesthetics of groups like NWA and soloists like Tupac Shakur, who ended up shot to death in Las Vegas after a confrontation with New York mc Notorious BIG
Born on August 1, 1963 in the State of Pennsylvania and baptized Artis Leon Ivey Jr., Coolio moved to California, where, already in Los Angeles, he joined the hip-hop band WC and the Maad Circle in 1991. His solo career started in 1994 with the album Item Takes a Thief.
Like many other rappers of his generation, Coolio also acted in movies and television series such as Sabrina the Teenage Witch (nineteen ninety six), batman and robin (1997), The babysitter (1998), futurama (2001, 2010) or Gravity Falls (2012).
The condolences have followed after hearing the news on Wednesday afternoon, Los Angeles time. Colleagues by profession (and classmates), such as MC Hammer, Questlove or LL Cool J or Weird Al Jankovich (author of a parody version of his great success, titled Amish Paradise) They have used social networks to say goodbye to the musician.
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