(KTLA) – Los Angeles rapper Coolio, one of hip-hop’s biggest names of the 1990s, died Wednesday at age 59, according to his manager.
The Grammy-winning artist, born Artis Leon Ivey Jr., passed away at the home of a friend, longtime manager Jarez Posey told the Associated Press. His cause of death was not immediately clear, but TMZ reported that medics on the scene identified cardiac arrest as the likely cause.
Coolio’s first two albums, “It Takes a Thief” and “Gangsta’s Paradise,” catapulted the artist to stardom in the mid-’90s. The latter album produced an hit single of the same name, which sold over five million copies and earned Coolio a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1996.
The rapper continued to perform up until his passing, and had last taken the stage only days ago, according to his Instagram page.
Following his death, friends and collaborators paid homage to the West-Coast rapper on social media, with Ice Cube and Weird Al Yankovic, among others, offering their condolences.