Coolio, the American rapper best known for his Gangsta’s Paradise hits, has died at the age of 59.
His longtime manager, Jarez Posey, told US media that the artist was found unresponsive on the bathroom floor of a friend’s house in Los Angeles.
Coolio, who started his music career in the 1980s, released “Gangsta’s Paradise” in 1995 and carved his name into hip-hop history.
The exact cause of death was still unknown as of Wednesday.
But Posey told TMZ, which first reported the news, that paramedics thought he might have gone into cardiac arrest.
Coolio, whose real name is Artis Leon Avie Jr., won a Grammy Award for “Gangstas Paradise,” which was included on the soundtrack to the movie Dangerous Minds, starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
The poignant song is still widely played, and according to its official site, it has just surpassed 1 billion streams on Spotify.
During his 40-year career, he recorded eight studio albums and won an American Music Award and three MTV Video Music Awards.
His hits include “Fantastic Voyage,” “Rollin’ With My Homies,” “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New),” and “Too Hot.”
Active until death: Coolio has toured with 90’s stars like Vanilla Ice and Young MC, and just played in Texas a few days ago.
Vanilla Ice wrote on Twitter, “She is devastated to learn that her best friend Coolio has passed away.”
Snoop Dogg referred to Coolio’s world-famous song in his tribute, writing “Gangsta Heaven.” RIP.”
They also released a photo of the two posing at the set of the music video for their 2006 collaboration, “Gangsta Walk.”
“Sad news, I’ve seen this guy’s career rise to the top of the industry,” said fellow rapper and actor Ice Cube.
MC Hammer called Coolio “one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met”.
He’s a “nice guy”. RIP Coolio,” and posted a black-and-white photo of the rapper, before posting a second photo of him with Tupac and Snoop Dogg.
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