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Late night sounds of gunshots and helicopters Young nigga’s goin’ to school to be a doctor

The little homey just tripped and strippedīecause he didn’t realize that the joint was dipped (That’s right)īGs is retaliatin’ cause they enemies are crossed out the hoodĬrackhead mommas smokin’ whole accounting checksĭope dealers who serve liquid pieces for sex While her daddy’s got twenty-five to life and four strikes His little girl’s just now takin’ training wheels off her bike Saw the chase on the news and read the story in today’s paper Yesterday the homey committed a bank caper Neighborhood clubs beam up and crackheads be sellin’ TVs and VCRs Homegirl down the street with the green eyes and big titties is gettin’ thicker They carried their dead homey to his grave Now his momma in all black and niggas is goin’ to the barber to get a fade He tried to pull out his gat, pullin’ sex in through his back “The nigga with all sixteen switches sittin’ on Ds who got jacked The opener “Geto Highlites,” a phenomenal piece of smooth funk produced by Christopher Hamabe and Devon Davis, is a standout with its sunny-day profiles and subtle despair, capturing Coolio at his best between pure charisma and clever irony: As the intro none-too-subtly prefaces, the album is an hour-long exploration of a universal ghetto paradox: the never-ending struggle to escape backed by a ceaseless love for the hood. Coolio’s narratives certainly lack the graphic violence of many of his contemporaries’, but the grit and emotion needed to lend accuracy seems genuine. If nothing else Coolio was an utterly brilliantly produced artist, and “Gangsta’s Paradise” plays to all of his strengths. The eponymous song’s album is in fact quite similar to its predecessor, featuring a well-rounded tracklist of realistic yet goodnatured hood portraits, party jams, and sunny g-funk production. It was also the number one single of 1995, the height of the g-funk wave and West Coast hip hop’s commercial popularity. Featuring an unforgettable guest from L.V., a Los Angeles crooner then best known for his work with the decidedly un-PG outfit South Central Cartel, it was a clean track still managing to capture the desperation of the gangster’s existence. It managed to be an even bigger single than those tracks by lacking the perceived misogyny of “G Thang,” the heavy editing of “Gin and Juice”‘s radio cut, and “Regulate”‘s mass-murder-in-the-first-verse. A sample-driven g-funk number in the tradition of “Nuthin’ But a G Thang,” “Gin and Juice,” and “Regulate,” it features an inescapable hook, slow-burning groove, and general, broad-world philosophy from the perspective of an urban Californian. Originally recorded for the “Dangerous Minds” soundtrack and not intended for an album, “Gangsta’s Paradise” was an unlikely if engineered hit. Although his 1994 Tommy Boy debut “It Takes a Thief” was a chart success given the popularity of the single “Fantastic Voyage,” it still would have been hard to forecast the multiplatinum smash that was “Gangsta’s Paradise.” Coolio’s balance could probably best be labeled a product of his reaching a hip hop audience before a pop one, unlike, say, Skee-Lo and Paperboy. The dichotomy between street credibility and commercial success is tenuous, well-explored, and hard to formulate. With his contribution to Ras Kass’ 1995 debut “Soul on Ice,” he became his coast’s Method Man - the sole guest rapper on his coast’s most lyrically conceptual masterpiece. As fans will be quick to point out, though, he was far from a corporate creation, first gaining fame as a member of WC and the Maad Circle, an acclaimed Los Angeles outfit prior to WC’s success as a member of Westside Connection. Coolio recorded the theme song for Nickelodeon’s “Kenan and Kel,” rapped with Kermit on “Muppets Tonight,” and guested on “All That,” “The Nanny,” and “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” during his superstardom, cementing his status as a family-friendly MC with gravity-defying braids and a rather loud wardrobe.

The pop culture lexicon is likely to recall him as somewhat of a West Coast Fresh Prince - a squeaky-clean rapper with mega-hits and a massive television presence. Coolio managed to straddle the line between pop success and rap legitimacy as well as anyone who preceded or succeeded him.