Later, while recovering, Coolio worked as a firefighter and security guard. He took his stage name from Julio Iglesias, and he released a few local singles, but a cocaine addiction derailed his career. Later, Coolio studied at Compton Community College and discovered rap. (When Coolio was born, the #1 song in America was "Surf City" by Jan And Dean.) Coolio was a sickly child with asthma, but as he got older he started running around with local gangbangers, and he spent a few months in prison for theft as a teenager. 1 hit, but a few steadfast street rappers soon followed him to the top of the Hot 100.Ĭoolio was born Artis Leon Ivey, Jr. In the process, it acted as a crucial bridge record. Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise" has become a worldwide phenomenon. Instead, he delivered oddly catchy street confessions to a tune that many radio programmers would have recognized. , and when this street- Life's lament became the theme of a blockbuster movie.Ĭoolio didn't use swear words on "Gangsta's Paradise," and he didn't really glorify the life of crime.
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Dre's G-funk, recorded a gothic lament about street life to a Stevie Wonder sample. That finally changed when Coolio, a rapper from Compton who had risen to fame doing a funky good-time variation on Dr. For the moment, it was too hard for pop radio. None of these artists had much to do with the violent, secular near-nihilism that had taken over much of the rap landscape.
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Sir Mix-A-Lot liked big butts, and he couldn't lie. The Kris Kross were little children who wore their clothes inside out. PM Dawn were starry-eyed, melody-loving neo-hippies. Vanilla Ice and Marky Mark were goofy white boys who dance-rapped. By 1995, a few rap songs had managed to top the Hot 100, but all of those all-conquering hits were novelty songs in one way or another.