Coolio’s Collaborators And Track List Announced For Rapper’s Posthumous Album, ‘Long Live Coolio’
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Coolio’s posthumous album features guest appearances from Naughty By Nature’s Treach, Da Lench Mob’s J-Dee and Ras Kass on a project that wasn’t intended to be the rapper’s last.
The forthcoming LP, titled “Long Live Coolio,” pays homage to the Grammy award-winning MC, best known for his 90s classics “Gangsta’s Paradise” and “Fantastic Voyage.” song tracklist and who will be featured on the album when it comes out later this year.
“A Star Is Born”, the release’s latest track — a collaboration between Naughty By Nature’s Treach, MC Shan, and Coolio’s longtime producer/collaborator DJ Wino — premiered Friday, a song that doubles as a history lesson on Coolio’s path to superstardom. The video was shot in Las Vegas.
“When I heard Coolio’s verse I was like, ‘Yo, it feels like the homie is still there,’ he said, displaying a large portrait tattoo of his labelmate Coolio on his chest. “How do we want people to feel about him “We just want them to always think of him. That’s what it’s about – keeping your homies’ names on the street. Tupac just got a star in Hollywood. We don’t just say it when our brothers are here. We say it until we meet them again.”
“Went from Old Man to Boo Daddy to Coolio,” Coolio raps in “A Star is Born.” “At the age of 18 I entered the studio KDAY, I’m on the radio.”
“Coolio told his story in the second verse,” said DJ Wino. “This song was not meant to be posthumous.”
Coolio died in September 2022 from the effects of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine, the Los Angeles County coroner office determined, and ruled it an accidental death. In March 2023, Coolio’s estate announced that the hip-hop legend had been working on an album in the days leading up to his death.
DJ Wino says about 75% of the album was completed before Coolio’s death. “He put it there for us,” he said of ending “Long Live Coolio.” “It was up to us to get through it, and like good little foot soldiers we followed.”
Coolio won a Grammy for Best Solo Rap Performance for “Gangsta’s Paradise,” the 1995 hit off the soundtrack to the Michelle Pfeiffer movie “Dangerous Minds,” which sampled Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song “Pastime Paradise,” and is constantly on MTV was rotated. The song touched a billion views on YouTube in 2022.
The rapper had subsequent hits with “Fantastic Voyage” in 1994, “1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New)” in 1996 and “CU When U Get There” in 1997. According to Luminate, his career album sold a total of 4.8 million, with 978 million on-demand streams of his songs. He was nominated for six Grammys in total.
“LONG LIVE COOLIO” TRACK LIST:
1. “Shine on Me”
2. “Understood”
3. “Notice Me” (feat. Ras Kass)
4. “Fast Tempo” (feat. Kid Frost)
5. “I’m Wit That BS” (feat. J-Dee of Da Lench Mob)
6. “TAG You It” (feat. Too$hort)
7. “A Star Is Born” (feat. Treach by Naughty By Nature)
8. “Belly of the Beast” (feat. Cejaz Negraz)
9. “Snitch’N”
10. “Stand Up Beat It Hit It” (feat. Jay Chris)
11. “R Thentic” (feat. Kurupt & Chill)
