More albums from Coolio
![Listen to Gangsta's Paradise 2k11 (Coolio vs. Rico Bernasconi & Kylian Mash) [Remixes] by Coolio, Rico Bernasconi & Kylian Mash](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Music/2d/f1/62/mzi.cpndqhnd.jpg/1380x1380bb.webp "Listen to Gangsta's Paradise 2k11 (Coolio vs. Rico Bernasconi & Kylian Mash) [Remixes] by Coolio, Rico Bernasconi & Kylian Mash")
Coolio's Popular Music Videos
![Watch Gangsta's Paradise (feat. L.V.) [Lyric Video] music video by Coolio](/mkimage/image/thumb/Video116/v4/0a/92/e4/0a92e4da-3913-d6ab-1998-f9a209cf3478/810098509831_QMMEH2300453.jpg/575x575mv.webp "Watch Gangsta's Paradise (feat. L.V.) [Lyric Video] music video by Coolio")
![Watch C U When U Get There (Official Music Video) ([HD]) [feat. 40 Thevz] music video by Coolio](/mkimage/image/thumb/Video112/v4/3f/50/8e/3f508efc-fa09-5f72-a12e-850f857df0c9/016998528662_USTB12200161.jpg/575x575mv.webp "Watch C U When U Get There (Official Music Video) ([HD]) [feat. 40 Thevz] music video by Coolio")
About Coolio
Hometown
Compton
Born
August 1, 1963
Genre
Hip-Hop/Rap
Even in a crowded 1990s, where superlatively talented and uncommonly cool rappers seemed to multiply by the minute, Coolio distinguished himself as an artist wholly his own. Born Artis Ivey Jr. in the Pennsylvania Rust Belt in 1963, he moved with his mother to Compton when he was eight. Throughout the ’70s and ’80s, he saw the way overpolicing and the proliferation of drugs eroded the quality of life in what was once an idyllic suburb. But in the decade that followed, Coolio emerged as a wildly expressive and charismatic rapper, helping to cement his adopted hometown’s reputation as one of the densest concentrations of hip-hop talent in the world. First recognized for his work with fellow Angelenos WC, Big Gee, and DJ Crazy Toones in the group WC and the Maad Circle, Coolio struck solo stardom with hits like 1994’s Lakeside-sampling “Fantastic Voyage” and the following year’s towering “Gangsta’s Paradise,” one of the defining songs of the 1990s. He was also incisive in subtler ways, lamenting racist dress codes and injecting humor into the gothic horror that marked his contemporaries’ work.
Coolio has also released music as a member of WC and the Maad Circle.
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