Throwback Thursday: Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” (Video)

Cooli-who? While no one under the age of fifteen has any idea who Coolio is anymore, us '80s babies remember that the insanely braided rapper was a legitimate force back in the day, and it was his smash single "Gangsta's Paradise" that finally earned the man some respect...respect that he's spent the last fifteen years destroying, but still. Come, won't you join me one last time in "Gangsta's Paradise"?



The Refined Take:

1) I feel like people have forgotten just how huge this song was. Believe it or not, "Gangsta's Paradise" was the #1 selling song in 1995, resulted in a Grammy for Coolie and was named the song of the year by numerous critics. Frankly it's hard to see what all the fuss was about now, but trust me, no one was making good decisions in the mid-90s.

2) Damn, Michelle Michelle Pfeiffer! I forgot she existed. For the record, "Gangsta's Paradise" was on the "Dangerous Minds" soundtrack, and "Dangerous Minds" was about a white woman who inspired hardened urban youth to greater heights, and now she hasn't been in a memorable movie since 2001's "I Am Sam", which now that I think about it wasn't that memorable. So, yeah. Things haven't been going well for Michelle in the last decade.

3) Coolio has actually been arrested for selling crack, so in that regards at least he's got more street cred than most of these other rappers who ridiculously brag about "moving kilos". But on the downside he was selling crack.

4) Note to self: I've been to some bad high schools (shout out to Boston public schools) but when dudes are doing bench presses in the hallway, leave. Leave quickly.

5) So what is Coolio up to now? Basically he's a low (very low) level reality TV star. Looks like those "Gangsta's Paradise" royalty checks stopped paying the bills a long time ago.