Coolio, who made the hit song "Gangsta's Paradise," has died at the age of 59.
The US rapper Coolio, whose song "Gangsta's Paradise" hit the top of the charts in 1995, has died, his manager said Wednesday. He had lived for 59 years.
The musician who won a Grammy died in Los Angeles. No cause of death was given right away.
Posey told the celebrity news website TMZ that Coolio was found unresponsive in the bathroom of a friend's house on Wednesday afternoon.
Coolio started his music career in California in the late 1980s. By 1994, when he signed with Tommy Boy Records, he had established himself in the Los Angeles scene.
But "Gangsta's Paradise," which came out the next year, made Coolio famous.
It was the most popular song of the year, and Coolio won a Grammy for best rap solo performance at the next awards show.
Pfeiffer wrote on social media that it broke her heart to hear that the talented artist @coolio had died. "A life that was cut short way too soon."
"It wrote me," he said.
"Gangsta's Paradise didn't write me, I wrote it," he said. "It was its own thing out there in the spirit world, trying to find its way to the world, and it chose me as the way to get here."
He never had another hit like his signature song, but he had hits like "1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New)" and "Too Hot" after that.
The death of the rapper shocked people on social media. Vanilla Ice, a rapper from the 1990s, tweeted, "I'm freaking out. I just heard that my good friend Coolio died."