Fentanyl Contributed to Rapper Coolio's Death, Official Says

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Coolio, the gritty rapper best known for his hit “Gangsta’s Paradise,” died from the effects of fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine, according to the Los Angeles County medical examiner.

The medical examiner, who ruled the Sept. 28 death accidental, also cited other “significant conditions”: Coolio, 59, had a history of asthma and had cardiomyopathy, a disease that can make it harder for the heart to pump blood. He had also recently used phencyclidine, a drug known for its mind-altering effects, records show.

Sheila Finegan, a manager for Coolio, said the medical examiner’s report was released on Thursday. She declined to comment further, citing the privacy of Coolio’s children.

Coolio died in Los Angeles while at a friend’s house.

His longtime manager, Jarez Posey, said at the time that Coolio had been in a bathroom and that when he didn’t come out for a long time, his friends had broken down the door and found him passed out on the floor. No cause of death had been given, but Mr. Posey said at the time that it might have been a heart attack.

The rapper had previously struggled with drugs. In 2009, Coolio pleaded guilty to drug possession and went to a rehabilitation program. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to a felony firearms charge after a loaded gun was found in his carry-on bag at an airport.

Coolio, whose legal name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr., gained popularity with “Gangsta’s Paradise” in 1995. It spent three weeks atop Billboard’s Hot 100, was named the chart’s No. 1 song of the year and won the Grammy for best rap solo performance in 1996. The song’s popularity has continued for decades, and the music video has garnered a rare billion-plus views on YouTube.

Fentanyl can be 50 to 100 times as potent as morphine. In recent years, it has surged in popularity because it is cheaper and easier to produce and distribute than heroin, enhancing its appeal to dealers and traffickers. Because of its potency, small doses of fentanyl can be lethal. Its presence can be difficult to detect, unless the drug is tested for with fentanyl test strips, because it can’t be seen or tasted.

In 2021, drug overdoses shattered a record from the previous year by accounting for nearly 108,000 deaths in the United States, which were largely attributed to the worsening fentanyl crisis, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.