Coolio, the famous rapper of the 90s who remained on the music charts with his hits like “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage” has passed away. This was told to CNN by his manager and friend Jarez Posey. Coolio was 59 years old at the time of his death.
According to Posey, Coolio passed away on Wednesday afternoon. It was not immediately possible to get specifics on the circumstances.
After being contacted by CNN, Captain Erik Scott of the LA Fire Department verified that paramedics and firefighters responded to a call for claims of a medical emergency around 4 o’clock local time. Upon arrival, they discovered a male patient who was unconscious, so they performed “resuscitation efforts for approximately 45 minutes.”
The patient “was determined dead just before 5:00 p.m.,” Scott said.
“We are saddened by the loss of our dear friend and client, Coolio, who passed away this afternoon,” Coolio’s talent manager, Sheila Finegan, said in a statement to CNN.
“He touched the world with the gift of his talent and will be missed profoundly. Thank you to everyone worldwide who has listened to his music and to everyone who has been reaching out regarding his passing. Please have Coolio’s loved ones in your thoughts and prayers.”
Actor Lou Diamond Phillips expressed his sympathies and shared some recollections of his time spent with the musician.
“I am absolutely stunned. Coolio was a friend and one of the warmest, funniest people I’ve ever met. We spent an amazing time together making Red Water in Capetown and we loved going head to head in the kitchen. He was one of a kind. Epic,Legendary and I’ll miss him,” Phillips said in a tweet.
In a message on Twitter, former NBA player Matt Bonner recounted times spent with Coolio and said the rapper was a “huge hoops fan… we hosted him at a game a few years back… biggest crowd of all-time at a Spurs Overtime concert.”
In an interview he gave in 1994 to the Los Angeles Times, he described how he had become involved in the drug world but managed to pull himself out of it by pursuing a job as a fireman.
“I wasn’t looking for a career, I was looking for a way to clean up – a way to escape the drug thing,” he told the publication. “It was going to kill me and I knew I had to stop. In firefighting training was discipline I needed. We ran every day. I wasn’t drinking or smoking or doing the stuff I usually did.”
In the 1980s, he started his career as a rap artist and quickly rose to prominence in the underground rap scene.
According to his website, Coolio has amassed more than 17 million record sales throughout the course of his career.
