RIP Coolio

Since I write about music, I’m often tempted to write about musicians who passed, but not sure always when. It can be a full time job if one would do just that (so thank you @Rest_In_Peace) In September, rapper Coolio passed away at aged 59. Coolio’s braids, generally party-style lyrics and B-movie career seemed to make him a 90s novelty. His legacy oddly overshadowed by a beef with Weird Al when he said he had refused to grant permission of “Gangsta’s Paradise” for parody. (Coolio had long since made peace with this feud, pointing out that if Michael Jackson thought it was fine with it (and MJ was the biggest singer in the world) then why should Coolio complain). I saw Coolio live in concert at the Lollapalooza 1995 Second Stage. In retrospect, I won’t hold that performance against him. If I went to a Courtney Love concert and started rapping in the parking lot, I doubt I’d have a very high ceiling of success, no matter how talented I was. This post isn’t the proverbial burial of Coolio though, I really did come here to praise him. Gangsta’s Paradise (like the movie it was associated with, Dangerous Minds) is so serious, it is ripe for parody, but it’s also perfectly constructed. It is one of those songs that sounded so fresh that it literlaly turns the Radio on its edge Coolio’s career yielded the three Top 5 songs everyone might remember, but also three other songs in the Top 30. That’s not a bad tally. Also per Wiki, his 2006 album Return of the Gangsta, propelled by a duet with Snoop Dogg, charted in Europe. Until I looked it up, I didn’t remember 95s “Too Hot” which was a remake/tribute to the Kool and the Gang song with lyrics about safe sex. I do better to remember 96’s basketball themed “All the Way Live” which I recall getting quite a bit of video play at the time. Ditto the reflective after-world post-Crossroads slow jam “C U When U Get There”. No surprise though, the best songs are the ones that everyone knows. Breakthrough “Fantastic Voyage” marries personal narrative to Parliament funk. But, even better in my view is sequel “1..2..3..4 (Sumpin’ New)”. In fact, you might think I am taking the piss, it’s really one of my favorite songs ever. It takes a sample from Jazz trumpeter Tom Browne, and then, of all things, adds a vocal from an early 80s novelty rap song parodying BBC broadcaster Alan Whicker- and, of cours,e the ubiquitous “Good Times” riff by Chic for all the ingredients- to which Coolio was the perfect rapper to bring it home . A song that simultaneously can fit in on 90s nostalgia radio between Green Day and Mariah Carey or throwback Hip Hop stations in between Nas and Tupac.