Geto Highlites – Christopher Hamabe and Devon Davis get the production credit on this one and synth the shit out of the Isley Brothers’ “Groove With You” that Coolio uses to highlight the happenings in the hood it’s kind of like a hood version of those Christmas letters that white people send out to their family and friends.

That’s How It Is – A short intro that finds Coolio and his homie, Talkbox choppin’ it up about their love/hate relationship with the hood (even without trying, Coolio’s comments on this one crack me up), which sets up the next song… I mostly enjoyed Fantastic Voyage, so let’s see how Gangsta’s Paradise goes. A few years back I found used cd copies of all three of his Tommy Boy releases in the dollar bin, so I figured I give them (and him) a chance, a few decades after their release. I loved Coolio during his short stent with WC & The Maad Circle, but felt he had gone too far left when he found pop success with his solo career, so I stopped checking for him. But more importantly, it received positive reviews from pretty much all the major publications.

Thanks largely to the monster title track and lead single, Gangsta’s Paradise would go on to be an even bigger commercial success than its predecessor, selling more than two million units in the states, and the smash hit lead single and title track would earn Coolio a Grammy win for Best Rap Solo Performance in 1996. Like Fantastic Voyage, Coolio would use the production by committee formula, which would include beats from some familiar names (like Dobbs The Wino, whose alias I absolutely adore) and a heapin’ helpin’ of production from some new names as well. Gangsta’s Paradise would be the second of three albums that Coolio would release during his tenure with Tommy Boy Records. Coolio would return the following year with his sophomore effort, Gangsta’s Paradise.

Little did the world know (or Coolio) that he was only getting started. Thanks to the lighthearted content of the title track and lead single (and his cartoonish braids), it would earn Coolio a platinum plaque and also help thrust the album to platinum status, while receiving positive reviews from the critics as well (you can read my thoughts on the album by clicking here). The commercial success of Coolio’s debut album, Fantastic Voyage, turned the Compton rapper into a pop sensation, seemingly overnight (although those in the know new about the dues he paid on the underground scene, grinding with WC & The Maad Circle before reaching the proverbial mountain top).

Coolio gangsta paradise instrumental