His longtime manager, Jarez Posey, told US media the artist was found unresponsive on the bathroom floor of a friend’s house in Los Angeles.
The exact cause of his death on Wednesday has not yet been revealed.
However, Mr. Posey told TMZ, which first reported the news, that paramedics believed he may have had a cardiac arrest.
Coolio, whose real name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr, won a Grammy for Gangsta’s Paradise, which was part of the soundtrack for the movie Dangerous Minds starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
The friend called EMTs, who arrived and pronounced Coolio dead.
Coolio came up on the Los Angeles rap scene in the late 80# buy blew up globally in 1995 when he released “Gangsta’s Paradise” for the soundtrack of the Michelle Pfeiffer film, “Dangerous Minds.”
The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for three weeks.
Paradise became his signature hit, including 1994’s “Fantastic Voyage”, which hit #3 on Billboard’s 100, as well as “1,2,3,4 (Sumotin’ New)” and “It’s All the Way Live (Now)”
GangSta’s Paradise became one of the most successful rap songs of all time. Aside from topping the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, it was the No.1 single of 1995 in the United States for all genres.
And it was a global hit topping the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand charts.
Coolio was born on August 1 1963 in Monessen Pennsylvania and later moved to Crompton, California. After attending Compton Community College, he worked as a volunteer firefighter and security at the Los Angeles International Airport before becoming a rapper.
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