American rapper, Artis Leon Ivey Jr., known professionally as Coolio, has died aged 59.
Coolio hit international stardom with the release of the hit single, ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ in 1995.
His friend and manager, Jarez Posey confirmed the artiste’s death on Thursday.
According to reports, the musician visited a friend’s home in Los Angeles, California, on Wednesday, and requested to use the bathroom but never emerged.
After a while, the friend went to check on Coolio but found him unresponsive on the floor and called paramedics, the report stated.
Although the cause of death remains unclear, Posey said parademics believed he died from cardiac arrest.
CNN quoted Capt. Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department as saying that firefighters and paramedics responded to a call at 4 p.m. local time for reports of a medical emergency.
He said that when they arrived, they found an unresponsive male and performed “resuscitation efforts for approximately 45 minutes.”
Scott said the patient “was determined dead just before 5:00 p.m.”
Born on August 1, 1963, Coolio cut his teeth on the Los Angeles rap scene in the 80s but only became an international star in the 90s with albums It Takes a Thief, Gangsta’s Paradise, and My Soul.