LOS ANGELES (AP) — “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper Coolio suffered an unintended dying from the consequences of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine final 12 months, 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 “vital situation.” Investigators additionally decided Coolio’s extreme bronchial asthma and cigarette smoking performed a job in his dying.
Coolio’s former longtime supervisor Jarez Posey additionally confirmed the reason for dying Thursday.
Coolio — born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., on Aug. 1, 1963 — died on the Los Angeles dwelling of a pal on Sept. 28, 2022. He was 59.
Coolio gained a Grammy for finest solo rap efficiency for “Gangsta’s Paradise,” the 1995 hit from the soundtrack of the Michelle Pfeiffer movie “Harmful Minds” that sampled Stevie Surprise’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 together with his life, he mentioned in interviews. Coolio attended neighborhood school 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 keeping with Luminate. He was nominated for six Grammys.
Together 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 12 months that he had been engaged on within the days earlier than he died.