Two billion people have taken a trip to a gangsta’s paradise.
The music video for Coolio‘s classic 1995 hit “Gangsta’s Paradise” reached 2 billion views on YouTube. The visual was helmed by film director Antoine Fuqua, who is recently back in the public eye for his work on Michael, the new Michael Jackson biopic. It is the first video by the late rapper to reach this milestone.
“Gangsta’s Paradise” comes from the 1995 thriller film Dangerous Minds and features vocals by the singer L.V. The track served as the lead single of Coolio’s second studio album of the same name. “Gangsta’s Paradise” is Coolio’s biggest chart hit, spending three weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in 1995. Gangsta’s Paradise the album was also successful, spending 62 weeks on the Billboard 200 and peaking at No. 9 on the chart.
“Gangsta’s Paradise” topped the Hot 100 Year-End chart in 1995. In 1996, the song earned Coolio his first and only Grammy, for best rap solo performance, as well as two MTV Video Music Awards and a Billboard Music Award. In 2023, Billboard ranked “Gangsta’s Paradise” as one of the 500 best pop songs of all time.
“Gangsta’s Paradise” was given new life in 1996 after “Weird Al” Yankovic dropped the parody “Amish Paradise” which has millions of streams on YouTube and Spotify. Other stars who have covered the legendary rap song — the original, not the parody — include Maneskin, Brittany Snow and Falling in Reverse.
Watch the “Gangsta’s Paradise” music video below.
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