‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ rapper Coolio dies suddenly at age 59

Coolio, the rapper whose smash hit “Gangsta’s Paradise” sent him to international stardom, died Wednesday. He was 59.

He died at a friend’s Los Angeles home, according to longtime manager Jarez Posey. The cause was not immediately known.

When the friend went to check on Coolio — whose legal name was Artis Ivey Jr. — he found him unresponsive on the floor, according to TMZ. First responders pronounced him dead at the scene.

His manager told TMZ the paramedics believe he died from cardiac arrest.

His death came as a shock — just 10 days earlier he performed a 30-minute set at Riot Fest in Chicago.

Coolio rose through the rap game in Los Angeles in the 1980s, but he became a national name with the No. 1 hit “Gangsta’s Paradise” in 1995.

Though he’d spent most of his life in the titular gangster’s paradise, Coolio rejected the “gangsta rap” description at the height of his fame. Not that he didn’t have the street cred.

“They just chose to call it gangsta rap to make people afraid of it,” he told The Independent in 1997. “I don’t consider myself a gangsta rapper. But I’m probably more qualified to be a gangsta rapper than people who call themselves that. I’ve been through that life.”

He rode the success of “Gangsta’s Paradise” to a mainstream career that included three more top 40 hits and two songs on the “Space Jam” soundtrack.

Coolio also parlayed his fame into dozens of movie roles, including an appearance in 1997′s “Batman & Robin,” starring George Clooney.

Born Aug. 1, 1963, in Pennsylvania, Coolio grew up in Compton, Calif. He battled asthma as a child and was reportedly hospitalized multiple times.

He had several minor run-ins with the law as a teenager. He celebrated his 18th birthday behind bars.

“I was running with these cats that were straight killers,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1996. “I saw them rob this guy on the street, and beat him to death with a hammer ... I saw that, and said to myself, ‘This ain’t me. This is not the type of person I am.’”

Coolio turned his life around, becoming a volunteer firefighter and kicking a crack addiction.

“I didn’t quit through firefighting. I quit through God,” he later told Spin magazine. “It happened through willpower. It was time for me to stop. God had plans for me, so he made me stop.”

His rap skills progressed in the late 1980s, but he hadn’t settled on a name. One day, he was playing around with an acoustic guitar and a friend cracked, “Who do you think you are: Coolio Iglesias?”

Coolio’s first mainstream hit was 1994′s “Fantastic Voyage,” which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. That helped build anticipation for 1995′s “Gangsta’s Paradise.” The album hit No. 9 on the charts, and the single went triple platinum and stayed at No. 1 for three weeks.

In the following years, three of Coolio’s tracks followed “Gangsta’s Paradise” onto the Top 40: “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New),” “It’s All the Way Live (Now)” and “C U When U Get There”.

His success and buoyant personality made Coolio a beloved name and made man in rap across the world. He continued performing, even though he stopped releasing new music in 2009.

“This is sad news,” Ice Cube wrote Wednesday. “I witness first hand this man’s grind to the top of the industry. Rest In Peace Coolio.”

With News Wire Services