West coast legend and Grammy winning rapper, Coolio, passes on at 59

Coolio, the rapper who was among hip-hop’s biggest names of the 1990s with hits including “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage,” has passed away.

According to reports, his manager announced that the rapper d#ed in Los Angeles on Wednesday, September 28, at 59.

The artist, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr, passed away at a friend’s house, his longtime manager, Jarez Posey, told the Associated Press. A cause of de@th was not immediately confirmed.

Coolio is best known for his 1995 single Gangsta’s Paradise, for which he won a Grammy for best solo rap performance. The runaway hit came from the soundtrack of the Michelle Pfeiffer film Dangerous Minds and sampled Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song Pastime Paradise. He was nominated for five other Grammys during a career that began in the late 1980s