The Grammy-winning rapper Coolio passed away on Wednesday after being discovered unconscious at a friend’s Los Angeles residence, according to the New York Times. He was 59.
The single “Gangsta’s Paradise,” from the 1995 album of the same name, is what made Coolio, real name Artis Leon Ivey Jr., famous.
The next year, that song, a huge smash that was used in the movie Dangerous Minds, received a Grammy Award for best rap solo performance.
At the NBC Universal summer 2008 press tour in Beverly Hills, singer Coolio performs.
The singer Coolio performed on stage at the NBC Universal summer 2008 press tour in Beverly Hills, California on July 20, 2008, before a panel discussion about his new Oxygen Network reality series “Coolio’s Rules.”
Around 5 p.m. Pacific time (8 p.m. Eastern), the rapper passed away at a local hospital.
The cause of death wasn’t immediately known.
Ivey, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1963, started performing in Compton, California, as a part of the West Coast hip-hop culture.
In 1994, he published his debut album, “It Takes a Thief,” and the song “Lakeside” became a Top Ten smash.
