Coolio, the rapper whose smash hit “Gangster’s Paradise” sent him to international stardom, died Wednesday, according to a report. He was 59.
The beloved artist was visiting a friend in Los Angeles and went to the bathroom but never emerged, TMZ reported.
When the friend went to check on Coolio, he found him unresponsive on the floor, according to TMZ. First responders pronounced him dead at the scene.
Coolio’s cause of death remains unclear, but his manager told TMZ the paramedics believe he died from cardiac arrest.
Coolio, whose legal name was Artis Ivey Jr., rose through the rap game in Los Angeles in the 1980s, but he became a national name with the No. 1 hit “Gangster’s Paradise” in 1995.
He rode the success of that single and the album of the same name 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.
