The 59-year-old US rapper Coolio, best known for the classic song Gangsta's Paradise, has passed away.
The musician was discovered unconscious on the toilet floor of a friend's home in Los Angeles, according to his longtime manager Jarez Posey, who spoke to US media.
Coolio began recording music in the 1980s, but it wasn't until he released Gangsta's Paradise in 1995 that he truly established his place in hip hop history.
Coolio, real name Artis Leon Ivey Jr., received a Grammy for Gangsta's Paradise, which was featured on the soundtrack for the Michelle Pfeiffer-starring film Dangerous Minds.
According to the artist's official website, the melancholy song has now surpassed one billion Spotify streams.
He recorded eight studio albums over the course of a four-decade career and took home three MTV Video Music Awards and an American Music Award.
Fantastic Voyage, Rollin' With My Homies, 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New), and Too Hot were some of his other top successes.
Up until the time of his passing, Coolio was still performing; just a few days prior, they had a show in Texas while on tour with other 90s musicians like Vanilla Ice and Young MC.
"decent folks. Coolio "He wrote, posting an image of the rapper in black and white and then another image of them together with Tupac and Snoop Dogg.
The award-winning rapper Coolio, who was among hip-hop’s biggest names during the 1990s with his pop-infused style, died Wednesday afternoon at a friend’s Los Angeles home, his manager confirmed. He was 59.
The artist’s cause of death remains unknown.
The exact cause of his death on Wednesday has not yet been revealed.
However Mr Posey told TMZ, which first reported the news, that paramedics believed he may have had a cardiac arrest