Coolio performs at Groovin The Moo in 2019 in Australia.
Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images
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Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images
Coolio performs at Groovin The Moo in 2019 in Australia.
Tracey Nearmy/Getty Images
Rapper Coolio died of an accidental fentanyl overdose, documents from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office show.
Coolio died on September 28, 2022, at a friend’s home in Los Angeles. The coroner’s report listed the 59-year-old’s primary cause of death as the “effects of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine” and ruled his death “accidental”.
Coolio, whose legal name was Artis Ivey Jr., grew up in Compton, California. He started rapping at 15 and became one of the biggest names in hip-hop in the 1990s, with hits like the Grammy-winning Gangsta’s Paradise “shooting him to the height of his popularity.”
Coolio’s 1994 debut album It takes a Thief started his meteoric rise. “Fantastic Voyage”, the album’s opening track, reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The coroner’s report also listed “other specific conditions” including asthma, cardiomyopathy and phencyclidine use.
Cardiomyopathy refers to a range of problems with the heart muscle that make it harder to pump blood, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. It can cause heart failure and heart attacks.
Phencyclidine, originally developed as an anesthetic for IV delivery, is better known as PCP. It was later discontinued because patients experienced “postoperative delirium with hallucinations,” but today it is used as a recreational drug for its mind-altering effects, according to the Department of Justice.
