When Artis Leon Ivy Jr – better known by his stage name Coolio – was tasked with writing a song for the 1995 movie Dangerous Minds about a school in difficult circumstances, troubled students, and their idealist teacher portrayed by Michelle Pfeiffer, he was more than happy to take up the idea of fellow singer “L.V.” (short for Large Variety) to do a modernised version of Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song Pastime Paradise. Alas, long-time Baptist Wonder was not too receptive to the idea after being confronted with the swearing Coolio sprinkled throughout his rapping, giving his okay only once the profanities had been removed. It certainly helped that the revised lyrics of “Gangsta’s Paradise” start with a verse from the bible.
While the rapper’s ideas for the video included tuned cars and the ‘hood, he trusted director Antoine Fuqua to do the right thing. It features scenes from the movie interspersed with shots of Coolio in the same setting, which diverged from the typical videos of the time where it would more likely have been concert shots. Having the photogenic Pfeiffer in the video certainly helped the song, while having the earworm in the movie attracted viewers to the cinema in a perfect symbiosis.
Like so many artists, he would have a series of minor hits and appear in film and television, but never again score quite such a triumph.
Last Wednesday Coolio suffered cardiac arrest and transitioned into whatever Paradise he might have personally believed in.
His later hit C U When U Get There is based on another piece of music you really need to know, Pachelbel’s Canon, but that one is from just ever so slightly outside of the time range we’re concerning ourselves with.