DEAD COOLIO. Coolio’s cause of death was confirmed after a family spokesperson revealed the rapper was killed by fentanyl…
Coolio, the interpreter of Gangsta’s Paradise, who died at the age of 59 last September, was allegedly killed by fentanyl. A family representative for star 1990s rapper Jarel (Jarez) Posey told online gossip media TMZ on Thursday that traces of the powerful opioid painkiller, used as a drug and far more potent than heroin or morphine , had been found.
This relative of Coolio also indicated that the investigators had also detected traces of heroin and methamphetamines in his body at the time of his death. The star’s severe asthma, as well as decades of smoking, also played a role in his death, as his body was unable to defend itself, according to these revelations.
At the time of Coolio’s death, sources said no drugs or drug paraphernalia were found at the scene. Coolio died at a friend’s house in Los Angeles. He did not respond to calls asking him to come out of the bathroom where he had walled himself up. The lack of response had prompted the friend to go see the star, where he found him lying on the ground.
Coolio, real name Artis Leon Ivey, was born on August 1, 1963 in Compton, California. It was in 1994 that he really got into music with the release of his first solo album, It Takes a Thief. But it’s really a year later that he is placed on the front of the stage with his planetary title “Gangsta’s Paradise”. A second album follows, of the same name, then a third, My Soul, in 1997. But the latter does not achieve the expected success, marking the end of the rapper’s career.
Subsequently, he made several appearances on TV by participating in British reality TV shows, but also in the Angels of reality TV, French program, in 2011. Coolio also had some legal troubles, including the looting of a store of clothing in 1997, the attack on his then-partner in 2013, or the possession of a loaded and stolen firearm in 2016.
Rapper Coolio has therefore mainly made himself known thanks to his title Gangsta’s Paradise. A hit released on August 9, 1995, which propelled him to the fore, selling more than 6 million copies that year, the best annual figure. Adapted from Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder, the track evokes the life of gangsters. Dark lyrics that made him world famous and allowed him to win a Grammy Award in 1996 in the Best Solo Rap Performance category.
From 2004 to 2007, Coolio was in a relationship with Afida Turner, the extravagant French reality TV personality who rose to fame in “Le loft” and who had fled to the United States. Of their relationship, very few elements have leaked, except that it was tumultuous and interspersed with several ruptures, before a definitive end. Since then, the two have crossed paths several times, not hesitating to let it be known on social networks. Afida Turner posted a photo with Coolio on her Instagram following news of her death. “My god, Artis no! Coolio! Rest in peace” she simply wrote.
And to tell, in the columns of Le Parisien: “With Artis, we had remained very close friends. We had seen each other again last April in Miami, we had made a video together. He lived in Las Vegas but each time he was in Miami, he called me and asked me to join him (…) We did some stuff in the studio together, we recorded a song (…) He was still extremely in demand, gave shows from Tuesday to Friday around the world, I accompanied him sometimes.”
If he made himself known thanks to the tube Gangsta’s Paradise, rapper Coolio has also made a lot of noise about him for his private life. As we have said, the artist was in a relationship with Afida Turner in the 2000s, but also, before her, with Josefa Salinas, whom he married in 1996 and divorced in 2000. Coolio was also married to Mary Shittu, a model. The media The Sun reports other names of the rapper’s former companions, in particular Mimi Ivey and Anabella Bellesi.
From these different relationships were born many children: four with Josefa Salinas (three girls, Artisha, Brandi and Jackie and a boy, Artis), but also six others born of different unions: Grtis Ivey, Milan Ivey, Darius Ivey, Zhaneand Ivey, Kate Ivey and Shayne Ivey.
If the private life of the rapper has caused so much ink to flow, it is also because Coolio was known by the judicial services for accusations of violence. In April 2013, according to the American press, the rapper allegedly hit his girlfriend at the time, Anabella and ran over her with his car. The case was eventually dismissed, due to lack of evidence against Coolio.
A “suspected cardiac arrest.” Nearly a week after the sudden death of American rapper Coolio, the circumstances of the death are becoming clearer. According to the American media Daily Mail, which sites his manager, the interpreter of Gangsta’s Paradise would have died of a “presumed cardiac arrest”. A conclusion that puts an end to rumors that Coolio died of an overdose. Eric Yano, a longtime friend of the 59-year-old artist, assures the American site that he has never seen the rapper “drink, smoke or take substances during their 18 years of friendship.”
On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, Coolio was found unresponsive in the bathroom of a friend in Los Angeles, who notified emergency services. After attempting to save him by performing CPR for 45 minutes, rescuers pronounced him officially dead. The next day, an investigation was opened to determine the circumstances of Coolio’s death. The tabloid TMZ reports the word of the police dispatched to the scene that no drugs were found in the bathroom. The criminal track was it, at that time, also excluded.
Coolio’s death was made public by the American specialized site TMZ, on the night of Wednesday to Thursday, September 29. His manager, Jarez Posey, indicated that the rapper had gone to a friend’s house in Los Angeles (United States), the day before. During his visit, he went into the bathroom of this house, without ever coming out. Worried not to see him return, the person with whom he was, whose identity has not been revealed, then discovered him lifeless on the ground. Despite the intervention of the emergency services, Coolio died on the spot. When the emergency services arrived, who were already hypothesizing a cardiac arrest, the rapper was dead.
This would be, according to the Daily Mail, indeed the causes of death. According to the first elements of the investigation formalized the days following Coolio’s death, it appeared that no drugs or narcotic “consumption equipment” had been found at the scene of the rapper’s death. The criminal track was also ruled out, because no sign of such an act had been perceived by the investigators. An autopsy was performed on the victim’s body, as well as a toxicological test. The overdose would therefore not be the cause of the death of rapper Coolio.
Since the announcement of the disappearance of rapper Coolio, it is the world rap which mourns one of its most famous faces. “I am heartbroken at the passing of the talented artist Coolio. Gone way too soon. As some of you know, I had the good fortune to work with him on Dangerous Minds in 1995. He was a Grammy winner thanks to that brilliant song used for the soundtrack, which in my opinion was a big part of the film’s success. I remember him as an extremely caring man. 30 years later, I still get chills when I hear this song”, writes for example the American actress Michelle Pfeiffer, when Ice Cube deplores “sad news”. Juicy J highlights the “legend” that Coolio was, when MC Hammer writes, “He was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met in my life. Real good guy.”
