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Coolio: Gangsta's Paradise
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Coolio was one of the first rappers to balance [P]op accessibility with gritty, street-level subject matter and language. Yet despite his nods to hardcore, his music was clearly more happy-go-lucky at heart; he shared the West Coast scene's love of laid-back '70s funk, and that attitude translated to his music far more often than Dr. Dre's Death Row/G-funk axis. Most of Coolio's hits were exuberant, good-time party anthems (save for his moody signature song "Gangsta's Paradise"), and he created a goofy, ingratiating persona in the videos that supported them. He was ... popular with younger audiences and became a favorite on Nickelodeon comedy shows thanks to the thin, spidery dreadlocks that stuck straight out of his head in all directions.
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Best known for his 1995 hit "Gangsta's Paradise," Compton, Calif.-born rapper Coolio, now 44, is trying to move beyond the microphone. He's the star of a new weekly Webisode series on MyDamnChannel.com called "Cookin' with Coolio," in which he pimps out his culinary skills and shares his recipes for dishes such as Tricked out Tilapia (get the ghetto-fabulous recipe here) and Finger Lickin', Rib Stickin', Fall-Off-the-Bone-and-Into-Your-Mouth Chicken. Coolio, born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., spoke with NEWSWEEK's Jessica Bennett. Excerpts:
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Coolio started his career as a member of the rap group, WC and the Maad Circle, which included WC, Sir Jinx and DJ Crazy Toones. He later left the group and released his most successful album Gangsta's Paradise, which went 4X Platinum and featured the mega hit, Gangsta's Paradise and the popular party track, Sumpin New. However, Coolio's next three albums, 1997's "My Soul", 2002's "El Cool Magnifico" and 2006's "Return of the Gangsta", failed to live up to the success of his first two albums.
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Gangsta's Paradise