Rapper Coolio, who had one of the biggest hits of the '90s with the massive global smash Gangsta's Paradise, has died aged 59.
Coolio's longtime manager Jarez Posey said the rapper died on Wednesday at a friend's house in Los Angeles.
He had excused himself to use the bathroom but when he didn't return, the friend went to check on him and found him unresponsive and laying on the floor.
Paramedics were called but were unable to revive the star, with cardiac arrest the suspected cause of death.
No official cause has yet been determined, and information relating to the events leading up to when he was found are yet to be released.
Coolio performed during Riot Fest 2022 in Chicago 10 days ago. Photo / Getty Images
Coolio rose up the ranks of the LA rap scene in the late 80s. He released his first album It Takes A Thief in 1994, but it was the following year when his song for the soundtrack of the Michelle Pfeiffer movie Dangerous Minds turned him into a global star.
Gangsta's Paradise hit the number one spot in countries worldwide and became the top-selling single of 1995 in the US, shifting more than five million copies.
Coolio would go on to win a Grammy and two MTV Video Music Awards for the hit sampling Stevie Wonder's 1976 song Pastime Paradise.
The Grammy, and the height of his popularity, came in 1996, amid a fierce feud between the hip-hop communities of the two coasts, which would take the lives of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. soon after.
Coolio managed to stay mostly above the conflict.
"I'd like to claim this Grammy on behalf of the whole hip-hop nation, West Coast, East Coast, and worldwide, united we stand, divided we fall," he said from the stage as he accepted the award.
While he would never repeat that chart-topping success, Coolio did enjoy further hit singles; most notably, 1997's C U When U Get There was a global top 10 hit. He continued releasing albums up until what was to be his final full-length musical release in 2009.
His career album sales totalled 4.8 million, with 978 million on-demand streams of his songs, according to Luminate. He would be nominated for six Grammys overall.
Coolio also was a prolific actor, appearing in dozens of films, sitcoms and in recent years, starring in his own string of reality shows.
He wrote the theme song for popular sitcom Kenan & Kel, later appearing Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Nanny, Celebrity Big Brother and Celebrity Cook-Off.
In 2009, the keen home chef released Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price, a recipe book with a cooking show of the same name.
Born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., in Monessen, Pennsylvania south of Pittsburgh, Coolio moved to Compton, California. He spent some time as a teen in Northern California, where his mother sent him because she felt the city was too dangerous.
He said in interviews that he started rapping at 15 and knew by 18 it was what he wanted to do with his life, but would go to community college and work as a volunteer firefighter and in airport security before devoting himself full-time to the hip-hop scene.
Social media lit up with reactions to the hip hop star's unexpected death today.
Fellow rapper Ice Cube responded with a tribute on Twitter, recalling his "grind to the top of the industry", while fan and writer Nadirah Simmons remembered how intertwined his hip-hop career became with television of the 90s and beyond.
"Weird Al" Yankovic tweeted "RIP Coolio" along with a picture of the two men hugging.
Coolio had said in an interview at the time it was released that he wasn't cool with Yankovic's 1996 "Gangsta's Paradise" parody, "Amish Paradise." But the two later made peace.
the way tv and hip-hop were so connected in the 90s is something i’ll never forget. and it gave us one of the best songs in the kenan and kel theme by coolio. rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/D4t9H28b1e
Coolio's career was also marred by several well-documented run-ins with the law.
In 1999, a German court convicted him of being an accessory to robbery and causing bodily injury after a boutique shop owner said he punched her when she tried to stop him from taking merchandise without paying. He was sentenced to six months probation and fined US$30,000.
In 2009, he was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after he was found to be in possession of crack cocaine. In 2016, he was arrested at the same airport after allegedly trying to smuggle a loaded firearm through security.
Coolio is survived by his 10 children. It's been reported that four were from his four-year marriage to ex-wife Josefa Salinas from 1996 to 2000, while six were from other relationships.
