How Coolio's hit Gangsta's Paradise changed the course of hip-hop
Coolio was born Artis Leon Ivey, Jr in Pennsylvania, and moved to Compton in South Central LA as a boy. Suffering from chronic asthma, he became a bookworm and excelled at school.. "I read every kid's book they had in there. I even read Judy Blume."
In his 20s he moved to San Jose to live with his father, while working as a firefighter; and later credited Christianity for helping him overcome his addiction to crack. "As the Lakeside groove carries you along, Coolio piles about six milion people into the trunk of his '64 and takes them to a magical land where race, poverty, gangs and sexual orientation don't matter and everybody was cool."Hip-hop's gatekeepers were not interested in such idealism. Ivey's anti-violence, pro-acceptance stance somehow made him "soft". He earned the unwelcome nickname "Un-Coolio".
As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death/I take a look at my life and realise there's not much left.he told the YouTube series Hot Ones in 2016Coolio was 30 at the time the song was written, but the narrator is 23 and he doesn't know if he'll live to see 24. He was "raised by the street", immersed a life of crime and retribution. If anyone crosses him, they'll end up "lined in chalk".
Gangsta's Paradise was a stark departure from the feel-good funk of Coolio's first album and, at first, his record label weren't sure what to make of it.
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