A couple stand out songs.
I bought this album mainly for GANGSTA'S PARADISE. I've never been a huge Coolio fan, but I liked the song. There were a couple of other good songs on the album, especially the one with the guest appearance by WC (the Shadiest!). The lyrics and the beats on that were pretty tight. The rest of the album was enjoyable, but nothing outstanding. The lyrics were nothing special and the production was mediocre...he needed more work from Crazy Toones.This album isn't a must have unless you're a Coolio fan, but it's enjoyable.
Great 2nd album by Coolio
This was Coolio's first album after the phenominal It Takes A Thief. It was boosted by the smash-hit Gangsta's Paradise and made Coolio a huge name. The album is packed with catchy beats and tight lyrics. My best song on the album is Get Up Get Down guest starring WC which is ill. Other great songs are A Thing Goin' On, Exercise Yo' Game and Is This Me. I say check this album out if you are a fan of Coolio or even better check out his great debut, It Takes A Thief for some real old-school hip hop... Later
Good
Gangsta's Paradise is a great song. Rest of the album is just average( exept Too Hot and Kind High Kinda Drunk). Good album but nothing special. Coolio can do better.
Coolio's Da #@$#%
This CD was his best yet. With his two best hits "Gangsta's Paradise", which is featured on the Dangerous Minds Soundtrack, and "Too Hot", Coolio set it off on this one. If you like rap music, buy this CD cause it's a Cd you want to relax to or kick back to.
Gangstas Paradise
I bought this album a year ago just for Gangstas Paradise cuz i could not find the single n e where. I was well impressed that the other tracks on this album were nearly as good as 'Gangstas Paradise' but this tune will never be beaten for its spine tinglin beat and hard hittin lyric. This has to be the best Gangsta rap tune ever made. Coolio deserves more praise and respect for his work i only hope he will return with a new album as good as this. RESPECT!!!!!
Old-school hip-hop, which builds its sing-song raps atop samples of old funk and soul singles, may be on the way out, but in its twilight days it has yielded one more brilliant album, Coolio's Gangsta's Paradise. Coolio, the Compton rapper once known as Artis Ivey, creates tape loops of the catchiest sections from old songs by Smokey Robinson, the Isley Brothers, Billy Paul, and Herbie Hancock, and then raps his ghetto slice-of-life stories atop those loops. It's a familiar formula, but Coolio makes it fresh again, coming up with monologues strong enough to make us forget the original songs and get lost in his narratives. Moreover, Coolio drops his rhymes so they fall perfectly on the beats and even the melodies of the samples. --Geoffrey Himes
