I
After years of tough talk from the
rap sheet bravado of most gangsta
rappers, there's a point where you
realize anybody who talks that much
hasn't really done that much. That is
where Coolio steps in Coolio is just
as confessional as the rest of the
Compton crew, but on a totally dif
ferent tip. Instead of boasting about
drive-bys and fucking people up, he
admits to doing hard time with the
pipe. You have to give props to any
one who can go through that shit
and come out of it with a sense of
humor. Coolio does just that on his
smooth solo debut It Takes a Thief
Coolio launched his rap career by
doing shows on KDAY/LA, and at
about the same time he started bas
ing. "Nobody knew the effects of it
at that time, and I got hooked," he
says. Coolio knew he had to make
some changes when he passed by a
mirror and saw himself one morn
ing. "I looked like an old tired-ass
scarecrow," he says. "I tripped out
and started talking to myself and
saying, 'Damn, what are you doing?
You gotta stop this shit. So Coolio
took off to fight fires in Northern
California. "It was like boot camp,"
he says. "I was running every day
and started feeling good again."
Now he's coming strong and cor-
rect, but not so hard that he can't
joke about his hard times. "I can
talk about real things and still put
some humor into it," he says. "It
makes it easier to listen to. I get
tired of the same old shoot 'em up,
kill 'em up rhymes."-Jennifer Lehrer
NOFX
HE NEW RELEASE
19-20 NEW SONGS
FROM NOFX
TO HEAR THE NEWEST RELEASE ON EPITAPH
DEAL
213. I OFFEND
THAT'S 213.463.3363
punk
in drublic
CD
cassette
LP
on
86435.1.2.4
epitaph
EPITAPH
6201
sunset blvd.
Suite #111.
hollywood ca.
90028