LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper Coolio suffered an unintended demise from the consequences of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine final yr, the Los Angeles County coroner’s workplace reported Thursday.
The county company additionally cited cardiomyopathy, a illness that makes it tougher for the center to pump blood to the physique, as a “important situation.” Investigators additionally decided Coolio’s extreme bronchial asthma and cigarette smoking performed a job in his demise.
Coolio’s former longtime supervisor Jarez Posey additionally confirmed the reason for demise Thursday.
Coolio — born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., on Aug. 1, 1963 — died on the Los Angeles house of a good friend on Sept. 28, 2022. He was 59.
Coolio gained a Grammy for greatest solo rap efficiency for “Gangsta’s Paradise,” the 1995 hit from the soundtrack of the Michelle Pfeiffer movie “Harmful Minds” that sampled Stevie Marvel’s 1976 track “Pastime Paradise.”
Coolio was born in Monessen, Pennsylvania, and later moved to Compton, California.
He began rapping at 15 and knew by 18 it was what he needed to do along with his life, he stated in interviews. Coolio attended neighborhood faculty earlier than devoting himself full-time to the hip-hop scene.
His profession album gross sales totaled 4.8 million, with 978 million on-demand streams of his songs, in response to Luminate. He was nominated for six Grammys.
Along with his distinctive persona, he grew to become a cultural staple, performing often, offering a voice for an animated present and offering the theme music for a Nickelodeon sitcom.
Coolio’s property plans to launch a studio album later this yr that he had been engaged on within the days earlier than he died.
