Rap Icon Coolio Passes Away, Aged 59

Rap pioneer Coolio, real name Artis Leon Ivey Jr, has died.

As reported by TMZ, the music icon passed away while visiting a friend on Wednesday afternoon.

Ivey's manager Jarez said that the friend found the rapper on the floor in the bathroom and called paramedics, who pronounced him dead on the scene.

It’s suspected that he suffered cardiac arrest, although an official cause of death has not been released.

Rapping in the late '80s, Ivey joined the notable WC & The Maad Circle before signing a solo deal with Tommy Boy Records and breaking through with Fantastic Voyage from 1994's It Takes A Thief.

He then found longevity with Dangerous Minds soundtrack megahit Gangsta's Paradise featuring R&B singer LV — it was 1995's top-selling single and won a Grammy. "Weird Al" Yankovic even parodied it.

Ivey also landed numerous acting roles throughout his career, cameoing in Batman & Robin and participating in reality TV.

He was last in the country in April, headlining the long-awaited Made In The '90s concert tour alongside All-4-One, Renee Neufville and more after numerous setbacks and postponements due to the pandemic, taking on Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Speaking with The Music in 2017 ahead of the I Love The ‘90s Tour alongside Salt N Pepa, Vanilla Ice and Color Me Badd, Ivey said: "I've always felt like I've made timeless music.

"I never write trendy songs and use a lot of trendy words — I don't do that so that, when the song gets a little older, people will be like, 'Oh, that was a long time ago, nobody don't talk about that no more.' The kind of things that I talk about, people will be talking about for the rest of their lives.”