Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” Hits One Billion YouTube Views
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Grammy-winning Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” has just hit a new milestone in 2022. The 1995 hit, which was featured on the Dangerous Minds soundtrack, has been viewed over one billion times on YouTube. Although its initial release was over two decades ago, the song wasn’t uploaded to the video platform in 2017. The eccentric-haired rapper shared his excitement about reaching the astronomical view count via his Instagram.
“Yo, what’s up y’all? We just hit one billion, I want to thank everybody for all the years of love and being there for me,” he said in a video where he holds up his phone showing the “Gangsta’s Paradise” video and its numbers. “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 a caption, the 58-year-old wrote, “‘Gangstas Paradise’ just certified 1 billion views and streams on @youtube since 2017, and it’s about to hit a billion on @spotify too.”
He then shouted out all the people who played a part in the pivotal moment of his musical career. “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.”
He continued with, “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 Antoine Fuqua-directed masterpiece stayed true to the film and featured the flick’s main character Michelle Pfeiffer reciting the song’s raw lyrics to Coolio in between clips from the film. “Gangsta’s Paradise” earned the Best Rap Video at the MTV Video Music Awards in ’95, and consecutively scored bragging rights as the best-selling single on Billboard‘s year-end Billboard Hot 100 chart. The smash went on to be No. 1 on Billboard‘s Hot Rap Songs chart as well, making it one of HIp-Hop’s greatest songs of all time.
The song also appeared on Coolio’s sophomore album of the same name. It was so good that even comedian “Weird Al” Yankovic remixed the song and created a parody named “Amish Paradise.”
Revisit Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” below.
