Coolio Selling Rights to ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ to Fund Chef Career

Coolio, the man who reshaped Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise” to bring the 90s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” is selling the rights to his Grammy-winning single, along with 122 other songs. Why would he ever do such a thing? Apparently, the rapper is auctioning off the rights to his music catalog in order to further his career as a chef.

Some of you might remember Cookin’ With Coolio back in 2009, a cookbook that made him a New York Times-bestselling author. According to a press release, Coolio is planning to “invest the funds from the song catalogue sale to expand his cookbook series and his online cooking show of the same name.”

Even though the 50-year-old rapper hasn’t hit the album charts in over a decade, his old-school hits are reported to pull in  $23,227 per year in royalties. All 123 songs will be up for grabs at the Royalty Exchange and are expected to fetch between $134,000 to $225,000.

While I have nothing but well wishes for Coolio on his journey into the realm of food, I’ll admit that I’m a little put out. As soon as I found out that he was selling off “Gangsta’s Paradise,” I blasted that ish for everyone at the Foodbeast office to hear. I choked up a little, thinking back to Michelle Pfeiffer donning a leather jacket on Dangerous Minds. Then, on cue (I shit you not), everyone began singing along to the lyrics and for just a split second, we we’re all back in 1995 listening to beats streaming from our cassette players.

Again, while I respect Coolio’s decision to follow his dreams, most of us can’t help but feel a pang of nostalgia. So, here it is, one more time while it’s golden.

H/T The Guardian + PicThx Amazon