Gangsta's Paradise
"Gangsta's Paradise" is a song by American rapper Coolio featuring American singer L.V. It was released as a single on August 1, 1995, by Tommy Boy, Warner Bros., and MCA Records. The song was written by the artists alongside producer Doug Rasheed, with additional credits going to Stevie Wonder for the interpolation of his 1976 song "Pastime Paradise". Certified platinum in October, the song was the lead single both the soundtrack to the film of Dangerous Minds starring Michelle Pfeiffer, and Coolio's second album of the same name, released in November. The music video, themed around the movie, was directed by Antoine Fuqua and featured Pfeiffer.
The song was the top-selling single of 1995 on the Billboard Hot 100 and the first rap single ever to go straight to number one in Britain. In 2008, it was ranked number 38 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop". NME listed the song at number 100 in their ranking of "100 Best Songs of the 1990s" in 2012 and Billboard magazine ranked it among the "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time" in 2023. Coolio was awarded a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rap Video and Best Video from a Film and a Billboard Music Award for the song. The song was voted as the best single of the year in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll.
The song has sold over five million copies in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany. Coolio performed this song live at the 1995 Billboard Music Awards with L.V. and Wonder, and at the 38th Annual Grammy Awards with L.V.
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