R.I.P. Coolio

RIP Coolio I'm sure it'll be a fantastic voyage https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibcDHmTCt-I

I guess I’m officially old, I have no idea who he was, but yes in this day and age 59 is too young to die.

Having grown up on Zeppelin, Sabbath and The Who, he was one of a few performers that made rap cool for white kids. Really transcended cultural boundaries.

Don't know much of his music but I did and still like the song I know the most, his hit, Gangster's Paradise.

I liked him so much as a kid. His hair had me mesmerized

RIP Coolio. His best known song was a massive global crossover hit, big enough to get actress Michelle Pfeiffer in its video during the peak of her career. The artist and his producers also were innovative in their blend of popular music and rap in a way that was more accessible at the time than the work of contemporary rap producers like Andre Young. I just looked something up that I've always wondered about this song but didn't ever take the time to find out more. This article (written in Australia of all places) is longer than many of you are going to want to read, but it does mention something about why there was no profanity in the hit song Gangsta's Paradise. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12-05/25-years-of-gangstas-paradise-coolio/12935222 If you've never heard Gangsta's Paradise (from 1995) it sounds like this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rft8hYQ31Ro If you've never heard Pastime Paradise (from 1976) it sounds like this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b0S4SiLxt1s If you've never heard of Pastime Paradise that's ok, it came out in 1976 as a non-single, non-hit on an album that won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1977. It was the third consecutive album which won the Album of the Year award for artist Stevland Morris. Both songs are great in their own way.

As a 60-something boomer, I've come to appreciate some rap for exactly what it is, art. It's not art that everyone is going to like, or even understand (I certainly don't understand a fair bit of it), it is <em>art</em>.

Coolio was a record label creation. He never lived what he rapped about. But he was the father of pop rap. Made music that was safe and appealed to white suburbs. He banked off it. I don't like him as an artist. But dying at 59 is bad. I think drugs had to do with it.

He mastered the balance between mainstream vs. dirty rap. Fantastic Voyage, Gangster's Paradise, awesome. But how about this (in case you forgot): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZrjsGm9HO0 I fuckin love this shit. "You done shot Mr. Johnson!" Classic

This is what I know https://youtu.be/ag8PqlgHzN8

RIP Coolio. I enjoyed his music. I don’t know anything about him as a person, but he created some great music.

@skibum609 “Tell me why are we, so blind to see That the ones we hurt, are you and me?”

Coolio was just at Legends Detroit a few weeks ago, too. He performed a few songs and even climbed one of the main stage poles (there's a video on Instagram of him doing it). I didn't work that night because celebrity nights are not profitable, but everyone I spoke to only had nice things to say about meeting him.

Rappers always spend money at clubs...

They tip all the girls pretty good

It's not always their own money though. I don't want to say too much more about that publicly because some of my coworkers lurk here and I'm not trying to get fired by giving out insider info.

I may have seen his last concert last week when I was in Austin where he okayed with Uncle Cracker, Naughty by Nature, Rascal Flats, and Journey. Such an awesome concert! RIP

Of course, without Gangsta's Paradise, we wouldn't have had Amish Paradise by Weird Al Yankovic. RIP Coolio