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Coolio's 'Gangsta's
Paradise': The Oral History of
1995's Pop-Rap Smash
How Stevie Wonder, Michelle Pfeiffer and "Weird Al" Yankovic played a role in the
ubiquitous mega-hit

"Gangsta's Paradise" was not just a defining moment in Coolio's

career, but also in the history of rap music and popular culture.
Pablo Serrano/Corbis

By Dan Epstein
August 7, 2015

During the last five months of 1995, it was

virtually impossible to go anywhere without
hearing the soulful, streetwise strains of
"Gangsta's Paradise" blasting out of somebody's
radio. Distinguished by Coolio's thoughtful lyrics
and distinctive verbal flow, L.V.'s gospel-tinged
wail and Doug Rasheed's starkly funky
production, the song is a deeply a!ecting
listening experience — and its hook, lifted from AROUND THE WEB
Stevie Wonder's 1976 track "Pastime Paradise," Michael Moore Has a
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Released in POWERED BY ZERGNET

RELATED
August 1995 in
conjunction
with the
Michelle
Pfei!er vehicle
Dangerous
Minds, and
boosted by a
memorable
video that Coolio: Paradise Found
featured the Rapper completes his fantastic voyage
from the mean streets of Los Angeles
actress and to the top of the pop charts

various clips
from the film,
"Gangsta's Paradise" not only transcended its
original soundtrack tie-in, but also managed to
transcend the widely-perceived stylistic and
commercial limitations of hip-hop. The single
soared to the top of the pop charts in 16
countries, including the U.S., eventually
becoming Billboard's Number One song for 1995
— the first time that a rap song had ever held the
distinction of being a year-end chart-topper on
the Hot 100.

But the accomplishments didn't stop there.

"Gangsta's Paradise" won the 1996 Grammy
Award for Best Rap Performance (it lost out to
Seal's "Kiss From a Rose" for Record of the Year),
and its video — directed by Antoine Fuqua,
whose subsequent list of Hollywood credits
includes the new Jake Gyllenhall film Southpaw —
won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rap
Video and Best Video From a Film. The song also
went on to sell over 3 million copies in the U.S.
alone, earning triple-platinum status and
inspiring the popular "Weird Al" Yankovic parody
"Amish Paradise." (Coolio failed to share the
public's appreciation for the spoof at the time,
though that particular beef has long been
quashed.)

On the 20th anniversary of the song's release, we

asked some of the major players in the "Gangsta's
Paradise" story to look back on what was not just
a defining moment in Coolio's career, but also in
the history of rap music and popular culture.

Doug Rasheed, producer: I was roommates at

the time with Paul Stewart, Coolio's manager.
Everybody used to come to our house all the time
— it was a hangout spot.

Coolio: There was a studio at the house, so my

manager's clients could come and work for free.

L.V., singer: Oh, that scene was beautiful, man!

The Pharcyde, Tha Alkaholiks, King T, South
Central Cartel, me, Coolio, the 40 Thieves — we
all used to hang out there at Doug and Paul's
place in Hollywood and just kick it, you know,
have fun and produce music.

Rasheed: Paul was a DJ. He had a record

collection and I had a record collection, so we
used to see who could pull the hottest sample
out. One day, I pulled out the Stevie Wonder
record, Songs in the Key of Life, because that's one
of my favorite albums. I pulled that sample out of
"Pastime Paradise," and Paul was like, "Wow,
that's tight!" So I decided to sample it and make a
beat with it. L.V. was trying to get a deal at that
time, so I was like, "Let's do it on L.V.!"

L.V.: I came in singing "Pastime Paradise," but

then I changed it up to "Gangsta's Paradise." I did
my parts, all the vocals and the chorus, and I did
the choir. That whole choir that you hear was
actually me — I did all the parts from soprano
down to tenor to the bass. Doug and I were like,
"Man, who can we get to rap on the song?" I asked
my homeboy Prodeje from South Central Cartel
to do it, and Prodeje told me, "Man, you should
do it by yourself!" I said, "No, I want a rapper on
it!" Prodeje didn't get on the song, so I thought of
Coolio.

Coolio: I wasn't really familiar with "Pastime

Paradise," as much of a Stevie Wonder fan as I
was. My very first album I ever bought was the
one with "Superwoman" on it. [1972's Music of My
Mind.] I got that for my 12th birthday, that one
and Fight the Power by the Isley Brothers. Songs in
the Key of Life, my mother had that album at the
house, so it was kind of weird that I didn't know
the song.
Coolio and L.V. at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards, where "Gangsta's
Paradise" won for Best Rap Performance. Ron Galella,
Ltd./WireImage/Getty

Rasheed: Coolio never liked my beats; he was

always like, "Aw man, I don't like your drums!"
But when he heard this, he said, "Doug, you did
that?"

Coolio: I had actually gone over that day to pick

up a check from my manager. I was getting ready
to go back to my car — and I remember this
clearly — there was a Chevy Biscayne that was
parked next door; I was looking at that, and I was
asking the neighbor if he wanted to sell it. And
then I had to go to the bathroom, so I went back
inside my manager's house to use the toilet
before I rolled out, and that's when I heard the
track. I walked into the studio, and asked Doug,
"Wow, whose track is that?" Doug said, "Oh, it's
something I'm working on." I said, "Well, it's
mine!"

Rasheed: Coolio, at the time, had already had a

hit record [1994's "Fantastic Voyage"]. We
thought, "Man, this is an opportunity!"

"When Coolio wrote

the lyrics, I was like,
'Wow, man, that's
deep!'" —L.V.

Coolio: I sat down and I started writing. Hearing

the bass line, the chorus line and the hook, it just
opened up my mind.

"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of

death/I take a look at my life and I see there's
nothing left" — I freestyled that; that came o!
the top of the dome and I wrote that down. I
thought about it for a minute, and then I wrote
the whole rest of the song without stopping, from
the first verse to the third verse. You know, I like
to believe that it was divine intervention.
"Gangsta's Paradise" wanted to be born; it wanted
to come to life, and it chose me as the vessel.

L.V.: When Coolio wrote the lyrics, I was like,

"Wow, man, that's deep!" Because what he was
talking about was exactly what I was singing
about.
Coolio: I did a couple of rough passes on the
vocal, L.V. did a couple of rough passes on the
hook, and I walked out of there with a cassette. I
jumped in the car and I started calling people and
playing it over the phone for them — "What you
think about this?" The whole time I was doing it, I
was like, "They're really gonna love this! This is a
song for the neighborhood!" I called my A&R at
Tommy Boy Records, and I played it for him. He
said, "It sounds pretty good — I think it would
make a good album cut." Those were his exact
words! [Laughs]

Rasheed: Paul took the demo and shopped it to a

couple of films, one of which was Dangerous
Minds.

L.V.: I think the Martin Lawrence movie Bad Boys

wanted it first, but they didn't wanna pay enough.
And then Dangerous Minds upped the ante on the
price.

Coolio: Four or five days after we recorded it,

Paul was like, "We've got a meeting with Disney
tomorrow — be there on time!" I called Tommy
Boy; I had sent them a cassette, so they got to
hear it first-hand, and their attitude was still,
"Yeah, it would make a good album cut!" So I said,
"You don't mind if Disney wants to use it for a
film? It's no big deal — they just want to put it in
some film they got." They were like, "Sure, go
ahead!" I think we got about $100,000 for putting
"Gangsta's Paradise" in Dangerous Minds. [Editor's
Note: The Dangerous Minds soundtrack would
eventually be released on MCA.]

Soren Baker, hip-hop journalist: I think

"Gangsta's Paradise" resonated because of the
song's video, which featured Coolio in a series of
face-o!s and stare-downs with Michelle Pfei!er,
the star of Dangerous Minds. This was a time when
rappers weren't commingling with Hollywood A-
listers — especially white female ones — so to
see Coolio do it was striking.
Coolio Featuring L.V. - Gangsta's Par…

Coolio: Here's the thing — Michelle was big, but

the test-screenings of the movie were not going
well. They were afraid that the movie was going
to flop; they were terrified. They had snatched the
movie o! from testing, and they were trying to
figure out what to do, because they had to put it
out. I think they'd pulled it back for about a
month. During that time, we went into the studio
to re-record parts of "Gangsta's Paradise" — and
even then, we weren't quite finished.
Rasheed: The song was recorded in four di!erent
studios, including my home studio; it just all
came together to create a really good sound. But
when I was doing the final mix, I said, "Something
ain't right!" So I went in, I re-did the drums right
there on the spot, and then I decided I needed to
beef up the strings; within like 10 minutes, I re-
did probably half the track. And then Kevin Davis,
the mix engineer, put a blend on it; he couldn't
have worked on it more than 15 minutes, and he
was like, "Man, listen to that!" We said, "That's it,
it's done!"

Coolio: But the thing was, we still had to get

Stevie to sign o! on it. When Stevie heard it, he
was like, "No, no way. I'm not letting my song be
used in some gangster song." So that was a
problem. And it just so happened that my wife,
she knew Stevie's brother — I guess he had been
trying to tap that for years [laughs]. She made a
call to him, got a meeting with Stevie and talked
him into it. His only stipulation was that I had to
take the curse words out. I had two places where
I had the N-word in it, and two places where it
was, like, "Fucked in the ass," or something like
that. And Stevie said that if I'd take that out, he
would sign o! on it. Unbeknownst to me, the
other condition was that he wanted 95 percent of
the publishing! Had I known that, I'm not sure I
would have went ahead with that — but I don't
know, maybe I would have [laughs]. So that's how
we ended up clearing it. Disney put "Gangsta's
Paradise" in the movie, they started testing it
again, and the test scores went from like 40 to 45
percent to 75 percent — 75 percent of the people
all of a sudden liked this movie. That's when
Disney started the marketing; they said, "We've
gotta shoot a video!"

Antoine Fuqua, director: [Dangerous Minds co-

producer] Jerry Bruckheimer asked me to shoot
the "Gangsta's Paradise" video. I had full control.
I wrote a treatment for the idea, and Coolio and
the studio signed o! on it.

Coolio: I wasn't completely happy with Antoine

Fuqua's concept at first, because I wanted some
low-riders and some shit in it; I was trying to take
it 'hood. But he had a better vision, thank God,
than I did. I couldn't completely see his vision,
but I trusted him.

Fuqua: It was my idea to get Michelle [in the

video]. I asked Jerry Bruckheimer if she would do
it. He called her. She got on the phone with me.
Asked me about my idea, and said yes. I couldn't
believe she said yes. I had flashes of Scarface
running through my head. She is one of the most
stunning, beautiful women in the world, and
turned out to be a very cool, nice lady, as well.
Her and Coolio had fun shooting the video, I
believe. It was a great experience for me, as well.
"I don't think that
Michelle Pfeiffer had
ever been around
that many black
people in her life." —
Coolio

Coolio: Michelle was kind of nervous, because I

don't think that, up to that point, she'd ever been
around that many black people in her life
[laughs]. And, you know, my boys were 'hood! But
we had a good time. She came out and did her
thing, and she killed it; it took her two takes to do
her parts, and she was outta there. When I got
the first edit back, I was like, "Wow, this could be
big!" But let me tell you something — I had no
idea that it was gonna take on the kind of life that
it took. I totally was still thinking, in my mind,
that it was gonna be a 'hood song. I was thinking
to myself, "Man, with what's going on in the video
and what I'm saying, there's no way white people
are gonna get into this song. No way." But I was
wrong.

Rasheed: I remember watching it climb; and then

the week it hit Number Three, Michael Jackson
came out with "You Are Not Alone," and it shot
straight to Number One. I remember thinking,
"Aw, it's over — we're not going to get to Number
One!" And the next week after, we hit it, and we
stayed on it for three weeks. It was a great
moment!

L.V.: Paul Stewart called me to tell me that it was

Number One. That was a big moment in my life,
especially considering the di!erent things that
were going on with me at the time. My father was
sick, my mother was sick, two of my brothers had
died; yeah, there was a lot going on, man. The
record came about at the perfect time.

Coolio: I was touring in Europe when it went to

Number One. And the thing was, I was Number
One all over the entire planet — not just in the
States. I was Number One everywhere that you
can imagine! I was like, "Man, these people don't
even speak English, and they're loving the song
like this?" That's what really tripped me out.

Baker: L.V.'s stark crooning and Coolio's raps

about the street life were endearing to people
who simply looked at Coolio as a party rapper.
"Gangsta's Paradise" was a gangster rap song that
had a quirkiness to it that appealed to people who
would normally be put o! by a traditional, bone-
crushing gangster rap song. Coolio's quest for
redemption in the song also likely resonated with
people having the same questions about their
own lives.
"Weird Al" Yankovic: My Bad Hair Day album
was nearly complete — I was just waiting for
inspiration to strike so I could write that ever-
elusive hit single. Of course, since "Gangsta's
Paradise" had been at the top of the Billboard Hot
100 for several weeks, by definition it was a prime
candidate for a parody. I also liked the fact that it
was a rap song — which means more words,
which generally allows for more jokes — with a
melodic chorus for the hook. Once I started
toying around with "Gangsta's Paradise," the
Amish concept hit me pretty quickly — I don't
think I seriously considered any other options.
"Amish Paradise" seemed a perfect irony — the
Amish lifestyle is diametrically opposed to the
Gangsta lifestyle, and I immediately saw a lot of
comedic potential in rapping about life on the
mean streets of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I knew
that for the video I would be doing a number of
Amish-related vignettes revolving around my
parody lyrics, but since the "Gangsta's Paradise"
video was such an MTV staple, I knew that I
needed to make some allusions to that as well.
The scenes of Coolio and Michelle Pfei!er were
fairly iconic, so I decided to focus on those. I'm
not sure exactly why, but it just made sense to me
that I should recreate those scenes with Florence
Henderson. . . and of course, she killed it.
"Weird" Al Yankovic - Amish Paradise
Fuqua: I was cool with it, because at the time
there was no social media, and if Weird Al
spoofed you, it meant you were popular or had a
successful video. It was, funny. . . I guess.

L.V.: I didn't care, because Weird Al was doing

everybody's song like that. Coolio didn't like it,
though.

Yankovic: There was a lot of he said/she said

going on at the time [about whether or not
Coolio had given permission to parody "Gangsta's
Paradise"], and to this very day I don't know
exactly how the lines of communication got
crossed. And I'm still truly sorry that it upset
Coolio so much at the time.

Coolio: I have to say, that was probably one of

the least smart things I've done over the years. I
should have never been upset about that; I should
have embraced it like everybody else did. Michael
Jackson never got mad at him; Prince never got
mad at him. Who the fuck was I to take the
position that I took? It was actually years later
before I realized how stupid that was of me
[laughs]. But hey, you live and you learn. Me and
Al, we've been good for a long time now.

Rasheed: Our
RELATED
whole crew,
Paul, Coolio
and all of us,
everybody just
kind of went
kind of crazy
with the PHOTOS: Readers' Poll:
The 10 Best 'Weird Al'
success of
Yankovic Videos
"Gangsta's 'Like A Surgeon,' 'Amish Paradise' and
your other favorites
Paradise." We
all split apart; I
worked with
L.V. on his record, and recorded his version of
"Gangsta's Paradise," but me and Coolio never
did another record. Paul wanted to sign me to
some contract that my lawyer told me was
ridiculous, so I went out on my own. I won't get
into any dirt, but I will say that things got a little
bit nasty. Separately, we all did fine and we did
well — my career's been great because of it — but
I just felt like if we had stuck together we could
have had a huge impact, instead of just a great hit.

Baker: "Gangsta's Paradise" proved that Coolio

wasn't a one-hit wonder, and that he didn't have
to deliver a prototypical radio record in order to
enjoy success. The song also showed that
gangster rappers could work with Hollywood's
elite, and promote a film starring a white actress.

Coolio: You know what "Gangsta's Paradise" did,

more than being one of the biggest sellers of that
time? It solidified me in the rest of the world. It
guaranteed that I could tour well into my sixties,
if I wanted to. It's been very good for me, very
lucrative, and it's gotten me to places that most
rappers, no matter how big they get, they'll never
go to some of the places that I've been to. You'll
never see a Fetty Wap or a Future going to
Pakistan or Uzbekistan, you know?

L.V.: I think "Gangsta's Paradise" continues to

endure because of what the song is talking about
— the song, and what Coolio's rapping about in
the song, still pertains to what's going on in the
world. I'll be talking to kids today who are like 19
or 20, and I'm like, "How do you know this song,
when you weren't even one years old when the
song came out?" These kids can still relate to the
song because of the neighborhoods where they
live, and the news they see on TV.

Coolio: I still get quite a few people coming up to

me and telling me that "Gangsta's Paradise" got
them through some really rough times in their
life, and that it changed their life. A lot of people
say it saved them from whatever demons they
were dealing with, that they listened to the song
and it helped them carry on; it saved them from
suicide, all kinds of shit. A lot of guys told me it
got 'em through their prison time. That's why I
think of the song as divine intervention, because
it doesn't even have the same meaning that it did
in the beginning — it now means whatever you
think it means. It has nothing to do with me; it
has to do with whatever person is listening to it at
the time. It's all things to all people.

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