Violins, voices of angels… and “conscious” text. With the death of Coolio, American rapper, impossible to miss Gangsta’s Paradise released in 1995. A true classic of American hip hop, the hit has a very special history and will forever remain the greatest title in the Grammy Award-winning musician found unconscious by his agent in Los Angeles at the age of 59 years old.
However, Gangta’s Paradise is far from being the first piece of Artis Leon Ivey Jr, the civil name of the rapper born on August 1, 1963, who grew up in Compton, near Los Angeles, where many of the heavyweights of US rap come from. After having signed in 1994 with the independent label Tommy Boy Records, precursor in the world of hip hop with artists like Queen Latifah or De La Soul, Coolio releases a first album It Takes a Thiefcarried by the single Fantastic Voyage, which rose to number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
But it is with Gangsta’s Paradise, the following year, that Coolio made a name for himself. Or rather a voice: taking words from the Bible from the beginning, “When I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…“(Psalm 23:4), the artist looks back on his daily life and his regrets”I look at my life, and realize there’s nothing left nothing…“. “Conscious rap”, therefore, introspection with a call for calm to all “Gangsta“, three years after the Los Angeles riots, with this refrain sung by his sidekick Larry “LV” Sanders: “Tell me why are we too blind to see that the ones we hurt are you and me“.
Above all, from the recording of the title in Los Angeles, the producer Doug Rasheed and the manager, Paul Stewart, and the artist himself feel that they have a title cut out for FM, with a striking melody and… . No big words. And for good reason: this one is a sample of Pastime Paradise by Stevie Wonder, featured on his album Songs in the Key of Life, released in 1976, where the hits nestle Isn’t she lovely, Sir Duke Where ace. According to the rapper, interviewed by RollingStone in 2015Ie sample, although the orchestration is different from the original, was unknown to him: “I didn’t really know Pastime Paradise, while I loved Stevie Wonder. My mother also had this album, but as strange as it seems, I did not know this title. When I walked into the manager’s house to go to the bathroom, I heard this song. And coming back into the studio, I asked Doug what it was. He told me he was working on something… and I told him it was for me!“
There was no need for more : “I sat down and immediately began to write. It came by itself he confided to RollingStone. I have thought about the first line for a minute, then I wrote the rest of the song without stopping, from the first verse to the third verse. I like to think it was divine intervention. Gangsta’s Paradise wanted to be born, he wanted to come to life and he chose me as his messenger, he explained in 2015.
Rest that pTo broadcast the track, Coolio had to ask Stevie Wonder to listen to the title, who initially refused. The brilliant multi-instrumentalist indeed demands to remove the words “fuck” and “nigga”, used several times in the first version. The conciliation is finally concluded in a positive way – probably with a financial agreement on the sales of the single – and the producer then contacts various film studios, in the hope of seeing the title appear on an original soundtrack. It will ultimately be Dangerous Minds with Michelle Pfeiffer in 1995. MDespite the unkind film reviews of the film, which recounts the setbacks of a former member of the Marines who became a teacher in an establishment with a sulphurous reputation, the success was immediate. Proof of the incredible enthusiasm: the star Michelle Pfeiffer agrees to participate in Coolio’s clip, realizing there a first unique mix between Hollywood and rap. On Instagram, the movie star says he has “broken heartn learning of the disappearance of the talented Coolio“.
The rest, we know: Gangsta’s Paradise sold millions of copies worldwide, including six for 1995 alone, and topped the music charts in 16 countries. The rapper is awarded the title of “best single of the year” as well as a Grammy Award for best rap solo performance. Moreover, there is a “featuring” between the title and its sample : in 1995, during the Billboards Awards, Coolio performed his hit with Stevie Wonder on stage, with an orchestra and a choir.
Coolio subsequently never replicated his title success, despite effective songs such as 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New), Too Hot or the production of the credits of the television series Kenan & Kel.