Once upon a time, Coolio was married to Josefa Salinas. The rapper died recently in Los Angeles, California, on September 28, 2022.
Artis Leon Ivey Jr., an American rapper, actor, and record producer, went by the stage name Coolio. In the middle to late 1990s, Coolio became well-known thanks to his albums It Takes a Thief, Gangsta’s Paradise, and My Soul.
In 1995, when his hit single Gangsta’s Paradise, which won a Grammy Award, came out, he became even more well-known. Fantastic Voyage, 1, 2, 3, 4 (Something New), and C U When U Get There are some of his other well-known songs.
He was also known for writing the theme song for the 1996 Nickelodeon show Kenan & Kel, which was called “Aw, Here It Goes!” Since 1996, Coolio has put out CDs on his own.
He also learned how to cook, which led to an online show called “Cookin’ with Coolio” and a book of recipes. Ivey first became known when he was in the gangsta rap group WC and the Maad Circle with WC and his brother Crazy Tostones.
Who is Josefa Salinas, Coolio’s wife?
Coolio got married to Josefa Salinas in 1996, and they were together until 2000. Josefa made a name for herself in the media when she worked at the California radio station KQIE-FM.
Coolio and his ex-wife had a total of four children: three daughters and one son. So, the rapper had many more children with many other women.
Because he has always been focused on his career as a rapper, it’s possible that he didn’t make up with his ex-wife Josefa for money. They split up after being married for four years.
Coolio is very well known in the music business. “Whatcha Gonna Do?” was his first big hit, which came out in 1987. He worked with Nu-Skool in 1988 to make the song “What Makes You Dance (Force Groove).”
Coolio joined the WC and the Maad Circle group, which was led by the rapper WC, in 1991. He did this because he knew WC through the L.A. rap scene. He was listed as a co-writer on the group’s first album, Ain’t a Damn Thing Changed, including on the song “Dress Code.”
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Coolio and his girlfriend Mimi are in a wife swap
The person he is dating, Mimi Ivey, is not his wife. Even though they are seeing each other, some sources say that they have already broken up. But there is nothing like that about how they broke up.
The rumors might have started because neither of them likes to talk about their personal lives. They have both been on Celebrity Wife Swap together.
Nicki Swift said in an interview that they had already split up and are now focusing on their own lives. In an interview, Ivey said that she was tired of how she was treated while they were together.
Coolio and Mimi Ivey have been dating for a while. Ivey’s age is still unknown, even though it looks like they are a few years apart based on their photos.
Artis Leon Ivey Jr. was born in Compton, California, on August 1, 1963, in the country of the United States. In 2022, Coolio will be 59. He used to help out at the Los Angeles International Airport as a security guard and a firefighter.
What number of kids did Coolio have?
About Coolio’s children, he was lucky enough to have six of them. He married Josefa Salinas in 1996, and they split up after a few years. He dated Mimi Ivey after that.
The American rapper Coolio and his girlfriend Mimi Ivey have been together for a long time and are very happy.
Coolio died on September 28, 2022. He was 59 years old, which was too old. It was found that his death was caused by problems with his heart and blood vessels. This was because he had used cocaine for a long time.
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Early years
Artis Leon Ivey Jr. was born in Monessen, Pennsylvania, on August 1, 1963. He and his family later moved to Compton, California. After going to Compton Community College, he worked at places like the Los Angeles International Airport and as a volunteer firefighter before he became a rapper.
Career in music
Coolio’s first single came out in 1987. It was called “Whatcha Gonna Do?”
In 1988, he also worked with Nu-Skool to record “What Makes You Dance (Force Groove).” Coolio made friends in the L.A. rap scene, and in 1991 he joined WC and the Maad Circle, which was led by another rapper named WC. On the group’s first album, Ain’t a Damn Thing Changed, he is listed as a co-writer, including on the single “Dress Code.”
Tommy Boy Records and It Takes a Thief were both hits.
Coolio got a record deal with Tommy Boy Records and put out his first solo album, It Takes a Thief, in 1994. “Fantastic Voyage,” the lead single, was played a lot on MTV and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Fantastic Voyage” would be one of the year’s most popular rap singles. “County Line” and “I Remember” were also small hits from the album. It Takes a Thief reached its highest position on the Billboard 200 at No. 8, and it has been certified Platinum. People liked how the album took themes that are often violent and vulgar in gangsta rap and made them funny and lighthearted.
Gangsta’s Paradise
For the movie Dangerous Minds, Coolio and R&B singer L.V. put out the song “Gangsta’s Paradise” in 1995. It went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks, making it one of the most popular rap songs of all time. It was the most popular song of 1995 in the United States across all genres. It was also the most popular song in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Austria, Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, and New Zealand. In the UK, “Gangsta’s Paradise” was the second most popular single of 1995. Coolio said that “Weird Al” Yankovic had not asked permission to make his version of “Gangsta’s Paradise” called “Amish Paradise,” which caused some trouble. Coolio won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance for this song at the 1996 Grammys.
“Gangsta’s Paradise” wasn’t supposed to be on one of Coolio’s studio albums at first, but it was so popular that Coolio put it on his next album and made it the title track. The chorus and music of Stevie Wonder’s song “Pastime Paradise,” which was released almost 20 years earlier on his album Songs in the Key of Life, are used in the title track. Gangsta’s Paradise came out in 1995 and has sold more than 2 million copies all over the world, according to the RIAA.
The songs “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)” and “Too Hot,” whose chorus is sung by J.T. Taylor of Kool & the Gang, are also big hits. Even though Coolio is no longer a member of the group, he can be heard on the song “In a Twist” on the second album by WC and the Maad Circle, Curb Servin’. Coolio had another top 40 hit in 1996 with the song “It’s All the Way Live (Now)” from the movie Eddie’s soundtrack. He also appears with B-Real, Method Man, LL Cool J, and Busta Rhymes on the song “Hit ’em High” from the soundtrack to the 1996 movie Space Jam.
In 2014, the band Falling in Reverse covered “Gangsta’s Paradise” for “Punk Goes 90s,” and Coolio made a cameo appearance in the music video.
In 1996, Coolio was included on the compilation CD America Is Dying Slowly by the Red Hot Organization. He was there with Biz Markie, Wu-Tang Clan, Fat Joe, and many other well-known hip-hop artists. The CD was made to make African American men more aware of the AIDS epidemic. In the same year, he made the music video “Aw, Here It Goes!” for the opening sequence of the four-season Nickelodeon show Kenan & Kel.
The third solo album by Coolio came out in 1997. It was called My Soul. Even though “C U When U Get There” was a big hit and the album went platinum, it did not do as well as his first two albums. After that, Coolio was kicked off of the Tommy Boy Records label. Since then, Coolio.com from 2001, El Cool Magnifico from 2003, The Return of the Gangsta from 2006, Steal Hear from 2008, From the Bottom 2 the Top from 2009, and Long Live the Thief from 2017 have not made any Billboard charts. In 2006, his song “Gangsta Walk” with Snoop Dogg was a minor hit in the UK. It reached No. 67 on the UK singles chart.
Coolio got a tattoo that said “Jugalo Cool” as a tribute to the fans of the hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse while he was on tour with them. He said that the mistake was on purpose. At the Gathering of the Juggalos, Coolio put on a show.
Coolio is on a track called “Fuck the DJ” by UK rapper Blacklisted MC. Bizarre of D12, Adil Omar (from Pakistan), and Uzimon also appear on the track (from Bermuda). In October 2014, the song was first heard on the music site Noisey from Vice.
Make an appearance on TV
Coolio was a contestant on the German talent show Comeback – Die große Chance (Comeback: The Big Chance) in 2004. The show was for artists who wanted to make a comeback.
Coolio was one of the housemates on Celebrity Big Brother in 2009. Later, he went on Ultimate Big Brother in 2010. After getting into many fights with Nadia Almada and other people in the house, he decided it was best to leave. In January 2012, he was one of eight famous people who took part in the reality show Rachael vs. Guy: Celebrity Cook-Off on the Food Network. He was there to represent the Music Saves Lives Organization. He was also a guest star on Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, playing himself.
On the March 5, 2013, episode of Wife Swap on ABC, Coolio is a guest. However, his then-girlfriend broke up with him after the show was taped.
On June 30, 2013, he was on the UK game show Tipping Point: Lucky Stars with comedian Jenny Eclair and Emmerdale actor Matthew Wolfenden. He came in second. Also on June 30, Coolio gave voice to a wax figure of himself on Gravity Falls. In the 1998 episode “Homie-Work” of The Nanny, he plays a nerdy man who works as a “gift wrapper.” The Jewish nanny turns him into a “Rapper” for Maxwell Sheffield’s new rap musical.
“Gangsta’s Paradise,” an episode of the Adult Swim show Black Jesus from 2014, had Coolio as a guest star.
In other places
In 2019, he was on the song “Escape Wagon” by the Irish rap group Versatile. Later, he was on the song “Coolio Interlude,” which was on their 2021 album Fuck Versatile.
Philanthropy
In July 2008, the group Environmental Justice and Climate Change asked Coolio and jazz saxophonist Jarez to talk to students at historically black colleges and universities about global warming. Coolio worked for the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America as a spokesperson. He said that both he and his kids have asthma. As a child, his asthma caused him to go to the hospital more than once.
Cherie DeVille, a pornographic actress, ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, and Coolio was her running mate.
Life and death for each person
Coolio had a family of six kids. In 1996, he married Josefa Salinas, but they split up in 2000.
On September 28, 2022, Coolio was found on the floor of a bathroom at a friend’s house. He was not moving. When first responders got there, they said he was dead. Police have started looking into his death, but they don’t think it was a crime. Coolio’s manager said it looked like he had a heart attack.
Legal issues
In 1998, a court in Boblingen, which is near Stuttgart, found Coolio guilty of helping robbers and hurting people. The court gave him six months of probation and a $17,000 fine.
In 2016, Coolio and some of his crew were arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for having a loaded gun in a book bag. As the group tried to get through a security checkpoint, the Transportation Security Administration noticed the bag. One of his bodyguards said that the bag was his, but witnesses said that it was actually his. Coolio got three years of probation and 45 days of community service for his crime.
In 2017, when Coolio landed at Changi International Airport, he was not allowed to go into Singapore. Because of privacy concerns, Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority wouldn’t say why the visa was turned down. Coolio was on his way from Beijing to Singapore so he could perform at a Formula One concert.
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