Coolio

Coolio was one of the first rappers to balance pop accessibility with gritty, street-level subject matter and language. Despite his nods to hardcore, his music was clearly more happy-go-lucky at heart; he shared the West Coast scene's love of laid-back '70s funk, and that attitude translated to his music far more often than Dr. Dre's Death Row/G-funk axis. Save for the somber Grammy-winning chart-topper "Gangsta's Paradise," most of Coolio's hits were exuberant, good-time party anthems, and he created an ingratiating, fun-loving persona in the videos that supported them. He wa...