Rapper Coolio in reality TV series at Oxygen

Reuters, Oct 30, 2007 2:00 am PDT
Rapper Coolio, who topped the pop charts in 1995 with the Grammy-winning tune "Gangsta's Paradise," will star in a reality TV show for women's cable network Oxygen.

"Coolio & the Gang," set to air in the second-quarter of 2008, will follow the California rapper as he raises six teenagers by himself, while maintaining his rap career and launching a clothing line.

The network, which is in the process of being acquired by NBC for $925 million, has ordered six half-hour episodes.

Debby Beece, president of programming and marketing at Oxygen, likened "Coolio" to a real-life version of "My Three Sons."

"Coolio is a single dad raising kids, and it's got a lot of unconventional parenting aspects to it. He wants his kids to do as he says, not as he does," Beece said.

Coolio, now 44, enjoyed some success in the mid-1990s with such singles as "Fantastic Voyage," and "Gangsta's Paradise," the latter tune modeled on Stevie Wonder's "Pastime Paradise." His career cooled amid various legal problems and as rap took on a harder edge.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

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