alone, earning triple-platinum status and inspiring the popular “Weird Al” Yankovic parody “Amish Paradise.” ( Coolio failed to share the public’s appreciation for the spoof at the time, though that particular beef has long been quashed.) The song also went on to sell over 3 million copies in the U.S. “Gangsta’s Paradise” won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance (it lost out to Seal’s “Kiss From a Rose” for Record of the Year), and its video - directed by Antoine Fuqua, whose subsequent list of Hollywood credits includes the new Jake Gyllenhall film Southpaw - won MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rap Video and Best Video From a Film. The Private Lives of Liza Minnelli (The Rainbow Ends Here)īut the accomplishments didn’t stop there. 'Silence of the Lambs': The Complete Buffalo Bill Story The single soared to the top of the pop charts in 16 countries, including the U.S., eventually becoming Billboard’s Number One song for 1995 - the first time that a rap song had ever held the distinction of being a year-end chart-topper on the Hot 100.
Released in August 1995 in conjunction with the Michelle Pfeiffer vehicle Dangerous Minds, and boosted by a memorable video that featured the actress and various clips from the film, “Gangsta’s Paradise” not only transcended its original soundtrack tie-in, but also managed to transcend the widely-perceived stylistic and commercial limitations of hip-hop. Distinguished by Coolio‘s thoughtful lyrics and distinctive verbal flow, L.V.’s gospel-tinged wail and Doug Rasheed’s starkly funky production, the song is a deeply affecting listening experience - and its hook, lifted from Stevie Wonder‘s 1976 track “Pastime Paradise,” was absolutely impossible to shake.
During the last five months of 1995, it was virtually impossible to go anywhere without hearing the soulful, streetwise strains of “Gangsta’s Paradise” blasting out of somebody’s radio.
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