Twenty seven years after the track’s initial release and five years after it was uploaded to YouTube, Coolio‘s “Gangsta’s Paradise” officially hits one billion views on YouTube.
“Gangsta’s Paradise” is the title track from the rapper’s 1995 sophomore album and was also featured on the soundtrack to 1995’s drama film Dangerous Minds. It interpolates Stevie Wonder’s 1976 song “Pastime Paradise”. The iconic “Gangsta’s Paradise” featured singer L.V. It was the number one biggest-selling single of 1995 on U.S. Billboard and listed at number 85 on Billboard‘s Greatest Songs of All Time.
On July 2, Coolio, 58, took to Instagram a video reflecting on the news. In the video he held up his phone as it played the clip while displaying the number of views. “Yo, what’s up y’all? We just hit one billion,” he said in the video. “I want to thank everybody for all the years of love and being there for me. I hope I got you through some good times and got you through some bad times, cuz he d–n sure got me through some… it’s on and it’s on and it’s on.”
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In an accompanying caption, he mentioned that the song is also about to hit 1 billion streams on Spotify. The rapper added, “Big shout out to Doug Rasheed LV DJ Wino Paul Stewart Tom Silverman Monica Lynch The 90s Tommy boy staff And artist roster The 40 Thevz The original members of GAT my family my Homies from the park Mona that is Josefa Salinas Jarel Jarez Posey Derrick D Dog Grandberry Spoony Cee Billy Boy Lekrat P.S. the terror MiMi Mima Karr thank you everyone I love y’all till the casket drop R.I.P. Jackie Mae Jones (my moma) Delano Reed Art Hall DJ Crazy Toones.”
The music video was directed by Antoine Fuqua and featured actress Michelle Pfeiffer as she reprises her role in Dangerous Minds.