Appreciation: Why Coolio’s death is hitting millennials so hard

The leisure world got here to a standstill Wednesday with the information that hip-hop icon Coolio had died at age 59. At one level, he was the most important rap star on the planet, along with his collection of singles within the ’90s reaching a stage of ubiquity few ever obtain, most notably the LV-assisted “Gangsta’s Paradise,” from the “Harmful Minds” soundtrack. The tune got here at a time when public curiosity in movement image soundtracks was nonetheless at an all-time excessive.

However past Coolio’s creative success, his standing as a hip-hop legend is certainly one of bridging the popular culture hole with out accusations of compromising his credibility. He wasn’t simply an entry level for a technology of hip-hop followers; he additionally constructed the bridge over the hole and crossed it with them.

A correct contextualizing of Coolio requires, on the very least, a glance again on the impact of his 1994 pre-“Gangsta’s Paradise” album “It Takes a Thief.” The LP was launched at gangsta rap’s most brooding and stigmatized. It contained a large hit in “Incredible Voyage,” which firmly established Coolio as somebody with verifiable road cred who may channel Lakeside’s 1980 true-school hip-hop/R&B single of the identical identify and rework it with cutting-edge aesthetics. It was a monitor that might — and would — cross over to pop audiences with out attempting; MTV’s “1994 12 months in Evaluation” even highlighted it as one of many 12 months’s most pivotal singles, in a position to look to the style’s younger previous with out sounding dated or overly nostalgic.

It was “Incredible Voyage” that introduced Coolio to Nickelodeon’s vastly common “All That” — a part of the era-defining Saturday evening “Snick” line-up. Revisiting his look right now, there’s one thing actually particular about how Coolio engaged with the youngsters’s sketch present.

Though some acts visibly phoned it in or had qualms about showing on a youngsters present, Coolio put his all into it, in his pre-performance skit with Kel Mitchell’s recurring character Ed From Good Burger after which rocking the gang of kids, a lot of whom had been probably experiencing their first stay rap present. However his affect prolonged far outdoors the famed Nickelodeon Studios at Common Studios, Florida — it was a technology having its hip-hop awakening in entrance of tv units.

What wound up making Coolio’s look all of the extra particular was its timing and the relationship he constructed with Nickelodeon’s younger viewers. Later that 12 months, when “Gangsta’s Paradise” and its subsequent album and additional singles grew to become the most important issues in hip-hop and pop music, Coolio continued to look on Nickelodeon.

Most vital, he did it with out pandering to a company, kid-friendly community. He was a hip-hop megastar who between appearances on “Saturday Evening Reside” and the Grammys was doing the theme music for Nickelodeon’s sketch comedy collection “Kenan and Kel” and showing on the channel’s annual ’90s fundraiser “The Large Assist.” Identical trademark hair, similar style, similar songs — he was at all times so effortlessly however undeniably Coolio.

But it surely wasn’t simply Nickelodeon — Coolio’s charisma was disarming in such a approach that even essentially the most family-friendly media featured him with out him having to water himself down or make apologies for who he was. He was within the pages of each Disney Adventures and the Source on the similar time. With hip-hop nonetheless a part of the counterculture then, its ambassadors usually confronted struggles or criticism, however Coolio someway balanced rapping with Muppets and showing on “The Rosie O’Donnell Present” with constructing momentum towards his 1997 album “My Soul” and his hit “C U When You Get There.”

Maybe it’s this ubiquity that has allowed Coolio to take care of a spot in millennials’ hearts for thus lengthy. Then, on the flip of the century, when Coolio grew to become one of many first hip-hop stars to transfer into actuality tv — we obtained to be part of his life and develop up with him in a brand new approach.

Possibly that is additionally why Coolio cameos had been weekend must-sees throughout the residence video rental period, together with in “Leprechaun within the Hood” (2000) and the 2003 Ben Affleck movie “Daredevil” (the director’s lower, with its restored subplot of the superhero’s lawyer alter-ego Matt Murdock defending Coolio’s character in court docket, was vastly superior). Coolio at all times had time for us as youngsters. In flip, we at all times had time for him as adults, when he’d make viral appearances at all the pieces from the Gathering of the Juggalos to Pornhub.

Coolio made music youngsters cherished with out it being “youngsters music.” He was each edgy and heat, with a presence that bridged the hole for millennials from childhood to adolescence with out having to make it his sole focus.

When you think about the lineage of pivotal hip-hop stars like Whodini, Run-D.M.C., Hammer, and so on., Coolio rightfully deserves a treasured spot amongst them.