Legendary rapper and actor Coolio -- perhaps best known for his Grammy Award-winning 1995 single "Gangsta's Paradise" -- has passed away. He was 59 years old.
Jarel "Jarez" Posey, Coolio's longtime manager, confirmed the rapper's passing to such outlets as Variety and Rolling Stone. According to Posey, Coolio died at approximately 5 p.m. PT on Wednesday afternoon. TMZ initially reported that Coolio died while visiting a friend's home. Reportedly, he went to the bathroom, where he was later found unresponsive. Paramedics arrived and pronounced the rapper dead on the scene. Posey told TMZ that the paramedics suspect Coolio suffered cardiac arrest, though an official cause of death has not yet been determined. TMZ also reports that police have opened an investigation into Coolio's death, though there do not appear to be any signs of foul play at this time.
Coolio was born Artis Leon Ivey Jr. on Aug. 1, 1963. He rose to prominence in the Los Angeles rap scene during the 1990s before scoring his breakout hit in the form of the aforementioned "Gangsta's Paradise," which released as a single in August 1995 before being released on the album of the same name three months later. The song was also featured on the soundtrack for the 1995 Michelle Pfeiffer film Dangerous Minds. Pfeiffer even reprised her role as LouAnne Johnson from the film in the official "Gangsta's Paradise" music video. The song itself had a considerable impact on pop culture, even being parodied by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
Of course, Dangerous Minds was not the only time Coolio made an impact beyond the world of music itself. The rapper also performed "Aw, Here It Goes," the theme song for the 1996-2000 Nickelodeon sitcom Kenan & Kel, which starred Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, with Coolio himself even appearing alongside the two in the title sequence. On top of that, Coolio had a minor role in the 1997 DC film Batman & Robin. According to the man himself, the plan was for his character to be revealed as the classic Batman villain Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow in the unproduced sequel.
Some of Coolio's other live-action roles include Dante Jackson in the director's cut of the 2003 Marvel film Daredevil, as well as Irwin in the television sitcom The Nanny. He also played himself in such shows as All That (which spawned Kenan & Kel), Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Joey (a spinoff of Friends), as well as in such films as Leprechaun in the Hood and Get Over It.
Moreover, Coolio was known to lend his voice to animated projects on occasion. For example, he voiced Kwanzaabot in two episodes of the animated sci-fi sitcom Futurama, as well as in its first feature film, Futurama: Bender's Big Score. He also voiced the Bang Baby known as Marvin Roper/Replikon in an episode of the DC animated series Static Shock, not to mention a living wax figure of himself in the Disney Channel animated series Gravity Falls.
Source: Variety; Rolling Stone; TMZ