Coolio
Coolio
by Addict on Aug.01, 2010, under Coolio
Artis Leon Ivey, Jr., better known by his stage name Coolio, is a rapper and hip hop singer.
Born 1st August 1963 in Monessen, Pennsylvania but brought up in Compton, California, Ivey started rapping at a young age, and by his late teens was making regular appearances on the Los Angeles radio station KDAY. However, he soon got into dealing cocaine and ended up being charged by the police. He cleaned up his act and went to work briefly as a firefighter, before deciding to focus on a career in music. He self-recorded two singles in the late 1980s – Watcha Gonna Do and You’re Gonna Miss Me – and joined the rap group WC and the Maad Circle in 1991. They were reasonably successful and released two albums – Ain’t a Damn Thang Changed and Curb Servin’ in 1995 – before splitting up in the mid-90s, which led to Coolio signing a solo contract with Tommy Boy Records.
The singer’s debut album It Takes a Thief was released in July 1994. It reached number eight on the Billboard 200 and produced the singles Fantastic Voyage – a Hot 100 number three hit – County Line and I Remember. Next came 1995’s Gangsta’s Paradise, which also reached the Top 10 on the Billboard 200 and sold over two million copies worldwide. It produced the smash hit title single Gangsta’s Paradise – which shot to number one in over a dozen countries worldwide and became the biggest international chart hit of 1995 (and one of the most successful rap songs of all time) – as well as the Top 5 hit 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New) and the Top 30 single Too Hot.
Since the mid-90s Coolio has released a further five studio albums and scored hits with singles like It’s All the Way Live (Now), C U When U Get There (ft. 40 Thevz), I Like Girls, Gangsta Walk (ft. Snoop Dogg) and From The Bottom 2 The Top.