At the 1995 Billboard Music Awards, he performed with Stevie Wonder, whose 1976 song "Pastime Paradise" was sampled on “Gangsta’s Paradise.” (Wonder only gave permission after Coolio removed the profanity from his recording.) Coolio describes the high of dueting with the legend as similar to being “on drugs,” and recalls the magic when Wonder and R&B crooner L.V., who sang the hook on “Gangsta’s Paradise,” began ad-libbing - belting, “Ain't no racists living in paradise” towards the end of the epic, choir-backed number. The massive success of “Gangsta’s Paradise” led to Coolio teaming with several other superstars. … She came in, she nailed it, and she went back to ‘Mommy,’ went back to mommy duties.” It was as easy for her as it was for me, I think. And they did her up real quick and she nailed it. She's not scared.’ I thought she was going to be scared! She brought her with her. And when she showed, I was like ‘OK, all right. “She wasn't actually late or anything, but I just didn't think she was going to show up. “At first I didn't think she was going to show up,” Coolio laughs. This content is not available due to your privacy preferences. It’s not that many people that care about each other. “Those kinds of moments happen very few and far between. “To be honest with you, I hate those kinds of movies where, you know, the great white hope comes into the inner-city neighborhood and saves the little children - ‘Ooh la la, hey Santa Claus!’ or whatever, all those kinds of things put it in play,” Coolio confesses with a chuckle. Even Coolio points out to Yahoo Entertainment that “those kinds of movies” – like Dangerous Minds, The Blind Side, and The Help - are “cliché as hell.” ![]() The dark, dramatic, orchestral track remains a bona fide hip-hop classic, and it has held up better than Dangerous Minds itself, a film whose “white savior” trope seems antiquated and actually tone-deaf in 2020. It became the top-selling single of 1995 (and one of the top-selling singles of all time, with 6 million copies worldwide) it was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards and won the Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance and it was voted as best single of the year in the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics’ poll. Twenty-five years ago, the Michelle Pfeiffer movie Dangerous Minds was released - and while it was a hit at the box office, the real success story was its theme song, “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Compton rapper Coolio.
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