New Music From Rapper Coolio Released Posthumously, Album Coming Later This Year
The estate of Grammy Award winner Coolio released new music from the late rapper on Friday.
“TAG ‘You It’,” featuring Too $hort and DJ Wino, is the first single from the “Gangsta’s Paradise” star’s posthumous album, “Long Live Coolio.”
A music video directed by Ken Francis and Kniknotti, featuring Coolio, also debuted on Youtube.
The sexually explicit track was originally meant to be released while Coolio was still alive, according to a statement.
The Pennsylvania-born rapper rose to fame in the 1990s and scored a smash hit in 1995 with “Gangsta’s Paradise” featuring LV. Stevie Wonder’s classic sampler single was featured in the Michelle Pfeiffer film “Dangerous Minds” and spent three weeks atop Billboard. Hot 100 chart.
The Grammy-winning song was ranked number 98 on Billboard’s 100 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2021.
A former crack addict, Coolio, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr., got his first taste of commercial success with 1994’s “Fantastic Voyage,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Following the success of “Gangsta’s Paradise,” the Tommy Boy Records superstar scored other Top 40 hits, including “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New),” “It’s All the Way Live (Now),” and “CU When U Go There.”
His television work includes composing the theme song for the popular Nickelodeon sitcom “Kenan & Kel,” starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, and voicing the character Kwanzaa-bot on Cartoon Network’s “Futurama.”
On the big screen, the father of 10 appeared in the films “Dear God,” “Batman & Robin” and co-starred in the 2012 independent comedy “Two Hundred Thousand Dirty.”
Coolio died at age 59 in September 2022 from suspected cardiac arrest.