Coolio's Recent Instagram Post Takes On A Whole New Meaning After His Tragic Death
One of Coolio's final posts on Instagram has sadly adopted a whole new meaning in the wake of his death. The rapper tragically died on September 28, with his manager confirming to TMZ that he was found dead at a friend's home. It's believed Coolio went to the bathroom, but caused concern when he didn't return. That's when the friend checked to see if he was okay, but heard no answer from the "Fantastic Voyage" hitmaker. After opening the door to the bathroom, they saw him collapsed on the floor and called first responders, who pronounced him dead at the scene. An autopsy will now be conducted on the 59-year-old rapper's body to determine his cause of death, though Sky News reported he may have experienced a heart attack.
"We are saddened by the loss of our dear friend and client, Coolio, who passed away Wednesday afternoon," his talent manager, Sheila Finegan, said in a statement issued to TMZ. "He touched the world with the gift of his talent and will be missed profoundly. Please have Coolio's loved ones in your thoughts and prayers."
In the wake of his sudden passing, fans flocked to Coolio's social media to pay their respects, where they were greeted by his now even more poignant final uploads.
Coolio's last Instagram posts had fans emotional
One of Coolio's final uploads to his Instagram grid was a filtered photo of himself shared on September 22. The touching snap showed the rapper wearing a baseball cap as he sat at a desk with his back to the camera. He had a lit mirror in front of him and he appeared to be writing something. In the caption, he hinted he was still working right up until the very end, teasing, "What am I doing?" alongside the captions "#guess," "#thoughts," and "#sayanything." He tagged his location as ACL Live, aka Austin City Limits Live, and was sitting underneath a poster with the music series' logo on it.
The caption inspired plenty of touching comments in the wake of his passing, with one person writing, "You're Flying Up To Heaven Bro. Rest In Peace" while another commented, "Living in a Gangsters Par.a.dise..." Others made it clear how heartbreaking they found it that Coolio was still working hard and having fun right up until the very end. "Still was on the road doing his thing.... Damn Coolio," one fan commented. Another added, "Legendary man what you was doing was continuing your legendary legacy[.] Rest easy."
The rapper shared three lengthy videos after that, which showed him performing. His very last Instagram upload was shared on September 24 and showed him up on stage doing what he did best, with the comments section being overrun with condolences following his passing.
Coolio was still traveling the world before his death
Coolio was still clearly very much in demand before his sudden death. The star, who was most famous for his hit "Gangsta's Paradise" with Kylian Mash, was traveling the world in the weeks before he died and shared several snaps to Instagram from a gig in Denmark on August 16. "Check me out in Næstved, thanks for another great show in Europe last weekend. Shakazulu‼️" he captioned those images, which showed hundreds, if not thousands, of fans turned out for the show which came shorlty after he was in Medelliin Columbia in July for Rose Festival. Of course, the star was also still just as in demand in the U.S. In the weeks that preceded his death, as he also shared videos and photos on Instagram of gigs he performed across the country, including in Tennessee and Ohio. He also joined several big name acts for Chicago's Riot Festival in September.
Coolio clearly wasn't slowing down before his passing, either. At the time of his death, per ETix, he was scheduled to perform several more shows, including appearing at SiriusXM's 90s on 9 presents the I Love The 90s Tour at Haute Spot in Texas on October 9 alongside the likes of Vanilla Ice and Rob Base.
Coolio was working on new music before his death
Coolio was clearly still loving being on stage before his sad death and it seemed like he even had big plans to release new music, which could potentially have been something he was working on in his poignant last Instagram uploads. The star hadn't dropped a new album since 2009's "From the Bottom 2 the Top," but told Irish Examiner in July that he'd been working with Aslan's Christy Dignam. "We're working on a track. We haven't even started writing any lyrics. The track is being built as we speak," he shared, noting he would be working on it for a few more weeks. "It's probably going to be a banger, I would imagine. I don't know if it's going to be dark and deep or if we're going to go clubby and happy — that remains to be seen," he added.
Sadly, Coolio didn't get to see how much success the song would garner while he was alive, but tributes poured in for him from across the globe. One of those leading the tributes was Michelle Pfeiffer, who appeared alongside the rapper in the "Gangsta's Paradise" video. "Heartbroken to hear of the passing of the gifted artist Coolio," she wrote in part on Instagram. "I remember him being nothing but gracious. 30 years later I still get chills when I hear the song. Sending love and light to his family. Rest in Power, Artis Leon Ivey Jr."