Guess what US rapper Coolio’s up to on the Gold Coast?
US rapper Coolio’s not so Gangsta anymore — you’ll never guess what he’s been up to on the Gold Coast this afternoon.
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FROM Compton, California, to the Q Centre at Mermaid Waters — don’t be surprised if you see Grammy-winning US rapper Coolio out on the town tonight.
Coolio, 54, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr, will turn Surfers into Gangsta’s Paradise tonight when he brings his headline Australian tour to the Beergarden.
A rapper, actor, chef and record producer best known for his 1990s albums It Takes a Thief, Gangsta’s Paradise and My Soul, Coolio arrived on the Coast on Tuesday and made a beeline for the butcher.
“I’m in the butcher shop (at the Q Centre) right now,” he said.
“I was just checking to see if they had any oxtail at the butcher shop. This is for tomorrow. I’m gonna make some oxtail soup with butter beans and a nice little slice of gravy over some rice.”
As for plans to hit the clubs ...
“Tonight? Right now I’m at JamRoc getting me some chips and some Jamaican jerk,” he said.
“When I finish eating here I’m going to wing it after that.
“I’ll relax for a bit and I’m gonna see what the night has to offer. I’m not gonna force it though if I don’t feel it, I’m not gonna force it.”
Coolio’s chart-topping hit Gangsta’s Paradise has remained a club staple in Australia since it came in at No. 3 on the 1995 Triple J Hottest 100 and continued to earn Coolio new, younger fans.
The star agrees the song’s success has been both a blessing and a curse.
“It’s funny you spin it that way ‘cause that’s exactly what it is,” he said.
“I can’t complain about the way it’s worked out because you know, it made me a household name and it’s taken care of my family for many many years.
“The only thing is that now I would be very hard pressed to be able to top it.
“People got stuck on Gangsta. It’s almost like they don’t want to hear anything else form me.
“In some ways they put me in this little box but I got my core fans. I got my true blues. They know what I can do. They’ve been loyal and I’ve been consistent.”
In addition to releasing eight studio albums, two compilations and 28 music videos, Coolio has acted in Retirement and several HBO films, made cameo appearances in Futurama and Squidbillies and hosted Cooking with Coolio, a “ghetto funk’ cooking web series that’s racked up more than four million views online.
“I’m always working on something,” he said.
“I’ve got other business ventures I’ve been working on over the years that I was focused on for quite a few years and then I put music second for a while.”
A volunteer for NGO Environmental Justice and Climate Change who’s educated students at historically black colleges and universities about global warming, he’s currently working on a new cookbook.
“I don’t like getting too political. I’m not a politician,” he said.
“I do know what’s going on. I do have some ideas about how to make things better. I try to share that with individuals. I don’t teach that part of knowledge on a mass level. What I know is not for everybody.”
The father of three — “my sons are all musicians,” he says — released a new EP Long Live the Thief, which included the single Kill Again, last year and is currently working on a new album due out in May.
“I’m a very different person (to the 1990s). I am a completely different person,” Coolio said.
“I’m older, more reflective, a lot more knowledgeable. I know what I want. When I write something, I know how I want to write it. I know what I want to say.”
Here last year on the I Love the 90s Tour with Salt n Pepa, Vanilla Ice and more, Coolio visited Melbourne last month to get the sheet music for his signature hit, Gangsta’s Paradise, inked on his arm.
“I got tatted at Oculus (by Beny),” he said..
“It’s the actual music of Gangsta’s Paradise.
I don’t know what it is about the tattoo artists in Australia. I got one tat here a long time ago and ever since then, I fell in love with Australian tattoo artists.”
Coolio has brought his saxophone player and guitarist with him on tour.
“It’s a really good live feel but it’s straight hip hop,” he said.
“You gonna get all the classics and something new. You’ll get the full package. You’ll see. It’s enlightening.”
Coolio plays the Surfers Paradise Beergarden on Wednesday night.
Originally published as Guess what US rapper Coolio’s up to on the Gold Coast?
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