Coolio – For MBLVX

An mp3 of the Interview is available lower in this text and via ITunes.  Full text is below and selected portions are published in Mobile Beat Magazine – to subscribe go to https://members.mobilebeat.com.

Ryan Burger: This is Ryan Burger, the president and publisher of Mobile Beat magazine. And we’re here with another artist coming to the Mobile Beat Las Vegas show this February. He’ll be performing February 9th, brought to you by the American Disc Jockey Association and NLFX Professional.

I’ve got Coolio on the line, and we want to find out where Coolio came from and where he’s going. Introduce yourself, I guess.

Coolio: [inaudible]. Yo, the name Coolio, performed the neighborhood, ghetto [inaudible]. I came [inaudible] make some niggers [inaudible]. I hail from Compton, California, and I’m one of those bad kids that turned out good.

You know, my concerts are not old school; they’re go-to. I don’t rap over the words, unless I’m on Soul Train, which I don’t do Soul Train no more anyways, so it don’t matter.

I got into the business — it’s kind of a funny thing. I was in the performing arts program that was run by a radio station — the original 1580 K-DAY. They started a performing arts program and we used to go and perform at the oddest places. We’d perform at senior citizen centers. We performed at parks and rec centers. The early groups like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Run-DMC, UTFO, the Boogie Boys — I came up with those cats. And for our performing arts program, how it went was we’d do a dress rehearsal right before every show that we were going to do. And whoever gave the special performance, those were the [inaudible] that got to close the show.

Sorry about that. Mama went to the grocery store. You know, I’m the Ghetto Gourmet and everything, and I have to get my cook on this morning.

Ryan Burger: Cool.

Coolio: I got discovered by a little small record company called [inaudible] Records back in the day. It was just a one-man operation. [inaudible] saw me perform at Knott’s Berry Farm in California and he — my first album, I used to be in a group called the [inaudible]. I originally started with some cats out of New York — from [inaudible], New York — by the name of Whiz Kid and Richie C and DJ D. And I was fascinated by the whole hip-hop thing, you know? It was all brand new on the West Coast, and I was super-fascinated by that.

I used to just sit there and watch them. So there was this one guy — another guy, another one of their friends moved to town. He was a [inaudible] guy, pretty boy, and he started taking all the girls that I liked. He started taking all the girls that I liked. And in the midst of that — you know, he was rapping also — and one day I just kind of got a little junk. And he wrote some song, like a [inaudible], and he put it on tape and then he said — he asked me what did I think of it. And I told it’s okay. I said, that’s okay. I said, I could do something like that.

He said, you don’t even know how to rap. I said, well, I don’t have to know how to rap to write something like that. I could write something like that [inaudible].

He said, well, do it, then. So I did it. And then I put mine on tape and I think it came out a little better than his. And that was it. I was indoctrinated.

Ryan Burger: You definitely got into the thick of everything. I mean, how much later did it take until you started hitting the tops of the charts with “Fantastic Voyage” and all that kind of stuff?

Coolio: This is going to hard you hard: 15 years, bro. Fifteen years, I rapped before I got a real record deal.

Ryan Burger: Overnight success, 15 years. Yeah.

Coolio: I didn’t get a real record deal until I was 29, damn near about to be 30.

Ryan Burger: Wow. You’re almost to the point of middle age in the rap community when you hit with your big stuff.

Coolio: Yeah, so to speak. Which I’m actually glad it turned out that way because had I got really good at 20, I probably wouldn’t be around right now.

Ryan Burger: Yeah. Gotcha.

Well, fast forward up to what you’ve been doing lately. The big thing with you, the stuff you’ve been doing lately, the Ghetto Gourmet, the Food Network; all that kind of stuff outside of music and everything you’ve done over the last 15 years. What else keeps you busy?

Coolio: I got kids. I’ve got seven children. And you know, we still have our time together. I got a real cool thing. I’ve got a big family; like to travel. So they keep me busy. I’ve got nephews and nieces. Somebody’s always around Big Coolio. We love each other and we spend a lot of time together. So I got plenty of stuff to keep me busy.

Ryan Burger: Very cool. On the cooking side, you have a book due out any time soon, from what I remember seeing online, right?

Coolio: Say that one more time?

Ryan Burger: You have a book due out soon; or did it already come out?

Coolio: The book comes out November 17th.

Ryan Burger: Very cool.

Coolio: I think you guys are going to love it.

Ryan Burger: Describe it for us. How is this different from the Rachel Rays and all the other — Martha Stewart cooking and all that kind of stuff?

Coolio: For one thing, my book’s laugh-out-loud funny. I didn’t make it 30-Minute Meals. I make 10-minute meals long, long, long before Rachel Ray was even heard of.

It’s something I do. My mom was a great cook, and I think that’s where I get most of my inspiration from.

Ryan Burger: Very cool. Last big thing I wanted to find out from you. What’s one of these concerts like that all these DJs are going to enjoy seeing in February?

Coolio: You guys are [inaudible] ’cause it’s like going to see Run-DMC back in the day when they were on fire. We keep it super hot. We never rap over the words ever. I’ve never done a concert and rapped over the tracks. That’s blasphemy. That’s blasphemous in my day and time. If you rapped over the words, you got booed off the stage. Don’t play that shit.

Ryan Burger: There’s just nothing to doing it that way.

Coolio: That’s blasphemy for my day and time. If you rapped over the words, you got booed off the stage. We didn’t play that shit. We didn’t play that shit, and we still don’t.

So when you come to a Coolio concert, you’re going to get that real. We said, I like the records. I don’t put all that effect on my voice when I go up to the studio, so when we come out on stage, we sound like the record.

Ryan Burger: Very cool. You’re doing all kinds of stuff you’re known for. You’ve got some newer stuff, I assume, that you’ve been pushing recently?

Coolio: Absolutely. You’re going to get it. You go online right now, go to YouTube Music, there’s probably 10 new videos you haven’t seen. Also I’ve got a record that’s older now that’s got [inaudible] Coolio.com.

Also I have one called “Alternative Gangsta.” My newest thing that’s out right now is called “Steal Here.” I got a [inaudible] release dropping today called — the first one is called “Bottom to the Top.” And the album’s going to be called, “From the Bottom to the Top.”

Ryan Burger: Very cool. Well, been rapping here with Coolio; looking forward to seeing you in your hometown — or at least, your new hometown — in Las Vegas coming up in about a couple months.

Coolio: [inaudible].

Ryan Burger: Very cool. I’ll look forward to seeing you there. I’ll talk to your guys later. Thank you.

Coolio: That’s right. See on the night [inaudible] go get it.

Ryan Burger: Okay.

Coolio: Yo, peace out.