The American rapper Coolio, author of
Gangsta's Paradise,
success that defined the commercial
hip-hop
of the nineties, has died suddenly this Wednesday in Los Angeles, while, according to the website of information on celebrities
TMZ
, he was visiting the house of a dude.
He 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 white teacher in trouble in a troubled high school in a black neighborhood.
But that phenomenon made him what the industry knows as a “
one hit wonder”,
a one-hit artist.
The composition, based on Stevie Wonder's old hit
Pastime Paradise,
included on 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 starts with some memorable verses that mark its melancholic 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 the 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 began in 1994 with the album
It
Takes a Thief.
Like many other rappers of his generation, Coolio also acted as an actor in films and television series such as
Sabrina, the teenage witch
(1996),
Batman & 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, entitled
Amish Paradise)
have used social networks to say goodbye to the musician.