I’m not going to write a long introduction here because you’re fully aware of who Coolio is and the interview is long enough to say the least. Whether you’re aware of how much he’s actually done for hip-hop is another story as he is one of the most underrated artists of all time.

I sat down with the West Coast legend and for the first time ever in an interview, I learned some stuff. I learned about politics. I learned about hip-hop. And I learned that Coolio is a smart dude. Sit down, read, and learn a few things. 

The first thing I wanted to touch on was the work you’re doing in terms of the environment, making people aware. Tell us about that.

My main concern is the water bro. People need to understand that there’s only so much water on the planet. If we fuck the water up we might as well forget about it. Especially black people, black people will pour oil in their own fucking yard. And we don’t recycle enough. Even me, I just started doing it. I would throw a can or a bottle in the trashcan quick. I think that’s the most important thing. The organization kind of got mad at me last time I did an interview because I don’t believe in global warming. I think we’re coming to the end of an age.

We’re getting ready to enter the stage of Aquarius, which is a water age. There’s going to be more water on the planet. I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to the ne ws but this summer the polar cap could melt. It’s not really a bad thing but it leaves the potential for more evaporation, which could cause there to be less water. It’s a funny thing because Black people can’t seem to really get with this concept.

Actually I take that back. I’m not gonna say Black people. I’m gonna say poor people. Poor white people don’t do it either. I’m fortunate enough to be able to say that I seen white people that are worse off than any brother in the projects. I been to the former Soviet Union and damn, you want to see some poor people? Most people have four walls, they live within four walls. I seen people with the whole front of their house blown off and they got some little sheets covering it up. It’ll be like 20 below and they got fire pits going in a building. You ever seen some shit like that?

Absolutely not.

We tend to think that we’re living badly. If you look at the hood if everybody took care of their shit it would be okay. It’s the people in the hood that make the hood bad. It’s not the hood itself because if you take care of your shit anything could be nice. I’m just getting involved because somebody gotta do something about something and nobody wants to take any responsibility. Brothers are runnin’ around and all they thinkin’ about is some motherfuckin’ 24’s and a chain, some pussy, a little drink, and some weed. It’s more to life than that. I quit smoking weed last year, November.

Was it difficult to give that up?

Not really because my son is 18 and I was buying weed and always, always keeping weed. When I wasn’t looking he would just come in my room and grab him some weed. Now I don’t smoke weed at all so it makes him smoke less weed. He don’t have that freed no more. That what I call free weed, freed. He don’t got that luxury anymore so if one of his homies don’t have some and I don’t have none and he don’t have no cheese then he ain’t got no weed at all. I don’t want to say I’m trying to set an example because it’s too late for that being that I smoked weed for all these years but I’m letting my son know that just because you do something doesn’t mean you have to keep doing it.

Weed is as addictive as heroin from what I’ve come to understand by people who study those types of things. I’m a drug counselor. I’m a licensed drug, child, and relationship counselor. I don’t accept money for it. I make money doing other shit. I just do it to help people. There was a time when I wanted to save the world man. You know everybody has those kinds of dreams. When I was born Martin Luther King was still alive so those were my heroes. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, Dick Gregory and those kinds of cats.

My problem with these youngsters they’ll look up to a dumb motherfucker going in and out of jail instead of a guy with four degrees and two masters. I got a problem with that. Everybody can’t be a doctor, lawyer, or politician. Actually forget politician because a lot of they asses are dumb. Everybody can’t be everything. Somebody gotta be a hustler. It’s supply and demand. Some people want drugs so somebody gotta sell them motherfuckers. I’m not knocking anybody’s hustle but what I’m saying is that when I was growing up we had a whole different way of looking at stuff. I got uncles that are pimps and my favorite uncle is a straight hustler, he ain’t never did nothing but hustle.

A lot of my personality is modeled after him because he’s a charismatic person. I drew my mind state from smart people, people who were intelligent. It’s a whole different thing now and I don’t understand it. Everybody is just content to let things go on as they are. It don’t make no sense to me. We scared of our kids man. I understand people being scared of these kids because they crazier than a motherfucker. It’s 10,12, and 15 year old kids out there that’ll shoot your ass in the face and won’t think nothin’ of it and just keep goin’ about they business. When I was coming up we fought but now it’s a whole different way of thinking and these kids are ruthless.

As a Black man especially if you over 30 you gotta show some responsibility man and say something. If you believe in something and you’re not willing to die for it then how much belief do you really have in your ideals? A lot of people had to give up their lives and their freedom for us. Cats aren’t like that anymore and personally I’m not with that. I’m old school and I’m willing to die for what I believe in. The next day ain’t promised anyway. I’d rather die for something than die for nothing. I don’t wanna just live my life and not make any kind of a difference. Even with music, how the fuck does Soulja Boy sell more records than Mos Def or Nas? I just can’t make sense of that and I fashion myself a pretty intelligent brother and a smart motherfucker. There are just some things that I can’t get a good grasp of understanding on so I guess I’m getting old.

I feel that but overall what’s your opinion of the music business today?

I’m not impressed at all. The reason why I’m saying that is because if you listen to the top 5 artists in hip-hop they all talking about the same shit. What trips me out is shit is 80’s right now. We progressed for a while and then it seems like we just hit a wall and now its regressed. Beats are going back to the bear elements. For instance there was a song that had a song with a bedspring sound in it and it made the whole beat. The beat was dope but it was built around one sound. I don’t be hating but I’m from the old school and when I say I’m from the old school it doesn’t mean that my style or my rhymes got old it just mean I believe if a motherfucker is wack he’s wack and it don’t matter how much money he’s got.

People are accepting wack artists because they got money but I don’t give a fuck because he’s still wack. He still can’t rhyme. He’s still not clever. He’s not gonna be around ten years from now. That’s why a lot of these cats gotta get their money now because they’re never gonna have any longevity in the game. They just don’t have the skills to last 2 or 3 albums. They’re not intelligent enough. I’m 44 and imagine me talking about what kids are talking about. I would look fucking stupid. I still rap about getting some pussy because I still get pussy. I’m not gonna rap about putting 24’s on a Chevy because I wouldn’t do that. The highest I would go is 20’s. You got people talking about they don’t like hip-hop anymore. Well then say something. Be vocal about it. We’re too accepting. We accept things because that’s what we’re being given. It’s killing our art form.

Lil Wayne is tight. He can freestyle and everything but he’s very one-dimensional. He’s at a point in his career where he’s all about the metaphor. My son rhymes and he was telling me the other day that it’s not what you say it’s how you say it. It’s about your swag. Nobody really be giving a shit what a rapper says. I think we need to go back to concepts. It’s time to bring the concepts back. We need another Public Enemy. We need an X-Clan right now. Knowledge amongst these youngsters is being lost. I also got a problem with rappers always naming themselves after white gangster like Capone or Dillinger. What about Hannibal? Why isn’t there a rapper named Shaka Zulu? He’s one of the greatest warrior kings to ever live. That’s my exclamation right there. I’ll be like Shaka Zulu my nigga. I do it to make a statement to let it be known that we as a people have a great history. Shaka Zulu would have cut Al Capone’s head off and Al Capone could have had a gun. It wouldn’t have made any difference. I’m mad at my ancestors. How are you gonna let 20 motherfuckers come and take over 500 motherfuckers?

When apartheid was going on there was so many South Africans that they could have attacked their aggressors with no weapons. Millions would have dies but after they killed their aggressors and took their land back there still would have been 3 million motherfuckers left. Black people make up 70% of the prison population but we only make up 22% of the population. Shit like that man, we gotta stop that bullshit. I don’t have any faith in the system. Everybody is excited that we’re gonna have Obama as our first black president. That’s not gonna mean a damn thing. Obama can be president all he wants but he’s still gonna get sat down in that room and told what he has to do. If you don’t we will kill every member of your family. We’ll erase your family from the history books. People don’t know about that president shit. When you’re president you don’t do what you wanna do. You do what you’re told or your ass will be dead. You know why JFK got killed? He was getting ready to tell the truth. They tried to tell him what to do and he was like fuck ya’ll. He had his own agenda.

One of the biggest reasons why he got killed is because he was getting ready to tell people about the aliens. He was getting ready to tell the truth about the Roswell incident and all that shit. I believe in aliens. I mean if you’re watching a movie and you’re thinking that shit is crazy? I guarantee that shit happened 20 years ago. Remember Face Off where they switched faces? You best believe that shit was done 20 years before the movie came out. Black, White, Mexican, we all sheep man. We just follow. I don’t believe in religion anymore. I’ve crossed it off my list as something that could help me survive.

How the fuck I’m gonna believe in a dude named Creflo Dollar? All these preachers, the ones that are respected, they all got Bentleys and shit. Their wives are wearing diamond rings and they’re living in fuckin’ mansions. They steady ask for money to fix the church. Fuck that, why can’t we sit outside and have church and take that money and feed people and get people into rehab? We got a 30 million dollar church on Crenshaw. 30 million dollars and everything around the shit is poor. To get into the church you gotta give x amount of dollars. Going to church is like going to the club. I might as well go to the club and listen to some hip-hop. Things have changed so drastically that it damn near don’t make no fuckin’ sense. Kids today have so much information. How old are you?

I’m 26.

See, when I was 26 there wasn’t no fuckin’ internet. There were computers but there wasn’t internet so you’re able to get information that I wasn’t privy to at your age. History is so modified that you have to read between the lines to actually learn anything. You’re from the East so you got the opportunity to see the Israelites and the 5 Percenters. You gotta even read between the lines with that. I was never a rapper. I was an MC but I’m not even and MC anymore. Now I’m a teacher. I want motherfuckers to open their eyes.

Motherfuckers don’t have to believe in what I believe in but just open your eyes so you can read between these lines and see the truth. We get told lies daily by others and by our own people. These preachers and those types know the truth and that’s why they’re in power but they don’t tell us the truth. They use is to manipulate us instead.

There’s this dude the Prophet and what’s fucking me up is that Run and Russell are advocating this nigga. Reverend Mike was another one that was taking money out of niggas pockets. My grandmother, rest in peace, used to send this nigga 5 dollars every week and we barely had enough to eat. We was eating fatback bacon, living in the projects with nothing and sending this nigga 5 dollars every week. He would send this big ass fake nickel made out of tin or some shit and you were supposed to pray with it under your pillow and it was supposed to bring you luck with your finances and all that. This dude one time said you have to get in touch with the spiritual side of money.

These pastors are just like rappers they’re just performing with all those theatrics and shit. What the fuck? Where the fuck is the spiritual side of money at? In the Bible it says money is the root of all evil. I’m kinda fucked up because my fire been splashed on and I’m gonna tell you why. I started getting knowledge and I started spreading the word. I started saying things on record that I shouldn’t have said and left it behind closed doors. If I did they would have let me stay on top.

Tommy Boy had about 7 platinum groups. They had Naughty, House Of Pain, Digital Underground, Coolio, De La Soul, and Queen Latifah. My first album went platinum and my second album went triple. It was the same with Naughty and the same with De La, House of Pain and Digital too. Do you know that the third albums only went gold, every last group? If that aint a fuckin’ pattern then what is? Let me tell you why. It’s because if we would have went platinum on the third album our budget for the fourth album would have been about 10 million dollars.

Let me tell you about ten million dollars. That’s really the only way you can call yourself rich. That’s the point when your money starts to make money for you. If you got less than 10 million dollars your ass still gotta work. It’s a game man and I’m just tryna show motherfuckers how to play the game man. That’s my whole thing. My new album is called Steal Hear. If you took a census of who the best rappers are I would not be near the top. My singles were so big and I did so well with my singles that motherfuckers didn’t listen to my album.

A lot of people don’t really know me. I’ll tell you I don’t know how to do that many things very well but I can rap like a motherfucker. I’m 44 years old man and I can write anything I want. My freestyle has dropped a little bit because when you get older you think a little slower and you gotta be able to think quick. When it comes to mackin’ I got lines man. My freestyle ain’t shabby it’s just not what it used to be but my writing is crazy. You gonna be surprised when you sit down and listen to this album. If you listen to my third album, which didn’t do too well, it was better than my first two albums. I went from triple platinum to gold and it was because I was talking too fucking much. I let the white man know that I knew the truth and they wasn’t havin’ that because I was trying to teach.

Look at a Nas or KRS or Mos Def, they never sell triple or quadruple because they wont allow them too. The way hip-hop is right now all you gotta do is pay the right motherfucker to play your shit. You could be the most garbage motherfucker in the world. You could be Soulja Boy and I ain’t never met Soulja Boy and I don’t dislike him but he can’t fuckin’ rhyme. He’s wack. He can’t spit. I don’t wanna single him out. It’s more than him. They don’t got it and they ain’t never gonna have it and I wonder how they getting in the game.

A lot of rappers whether they’re from East, West, North, South they’re rapping over the words at a live concert. How is that a live concert? And on top of that they don’t sound like the record. And I’m gonna go New York on you right now, get the fuck outta here! Get the fuck outta here with that shit! In New York they will boo your ass off the stage, my group was the first group to go out to NYC and not get booed our first time out. Even N.W.A they all got booed they first time. They got respect after that but the first time was bad.

The first time Outkast performed in New York I had to go on the stage and tell the crowd to give them a chance. I calmed them down a little bit. At first they was straight dissin’ them. Anybody else in my position would be bitter but I’m not because hip-hop saved my motherfuckin’ life man. If it wasn’t for hip-hop I would be dead, in jail, or on dope. Straight up and down. It saved my life. I love to rap so fucking much and I just told everybody I don’t gangbang no more. I’m so glad I had that outlet. I had two boys I used to rap with, Billy Boy and Spoonie C; he named himself after Spoonie G.

Billy Boy was our DJ and we would sit in my Dodge Scamp and he would sit in my car with a vacuum cleaner attachment and a piece of a stick or some shit beating on the back of the seats and that’s how we used to practice. We would just be bustin’ freestyles while we were driving. If we were at the house he would beat on the walls or the dresser and that’s how I got my freestyle skills. You know what’s killing hip-hop? The computer, the home studio. Two-inch tapes cost 400 or 500 dollars so if you were wack you weren’t getting in the studio unless you had your own money but you weren’t getting no record deal. A few motherfuckers slid through the cracks but not that many man. You could set up a home studio for 1500 dollars or less and you can make music. That used to be one day of studio time.

I been wrestling with this in my head and I’m thinking about not using Protools and I think I’m going back to two inch tapes. It’s just better sound quality. Every hood now got 100 motherfuckers that rhymes. I was one of the first 5 original rappers on the West Coast. It was Ice-T, Kid Frost, The Rappateers, Too Short, and me. Even Too Short came later. I just respect the game so much that when somebody disrespects it or they’re fucking weak it don’t sit right with me. It saved my life. When cats in New York was doing the park jams I was getting those tapes. I was watching the rap performances at the BET Awards and only a couple motherfuckers was actually rapping not just rapping over their words. No disrespect to Rick Ross, I like his records but he rapped over his words at the BET Awards and that shit was wack. He didn’t sound like his record. It makes you wonder what the fuck is really going on? Are cats in there tweaking their shit all the way out?

Let me get your opinion on this. Why is Jay-Z like the poster child for hip-hop? In your opinion why is he in the position he’s in? Besides the obvious because he is one of the greatest ever.

I think maybe Jay-Z had better management and a better staff. I’ll tell you one thing, Jay-Z and Puffy started paying motherfuckers to play records. They spent a lot of money. Nas was always on a label. He was always a signed artist. He didn’t get into the business part of it like that. Puffy and Jay were always on the business side and they was payin’ motherfuckers. They reinvented the whole payola scheme and shit. It kind of fucked up hip-hop if you ask me. You’re only supposed to get your fucking record played because your shit is dope. Now you could just write a check. Give a nigga some rims. I rhyme because I love it. It’s part of who I am and I would do it for free. I do wanna be the first nigga to go platinum at 50 though and I am gonna do that and then I’m gonna retire.

What about the cooking show you got poppin’?

It’s online right now. I got over a million hits. I can get down in the kitchen bro. It’s therapeutic for me. When I’m pissed off or upset I just get in the kitchen. By the time the meal is over it’s like I have my problem solved. I got into cooking when my mom passed because nobody could cook like my mama. For a long time I wasn’t enjoying my meals. I just had to recreate my momma’s stuff. I took some of the salt out and made it healthier. I took the pork out. It’s healthy but it tastes good. Did you hear about the reality show?

I heard bits and pieces, what’s going on with that?

It’s called Coolio’s Rules and it’s based around my life as a single parent. My reality show is real, it is not scripted. I told them we aren’t doing shit two and three times. That’s not reality. I let them do entrances and exits. We not recreating no conversations thought because that’s not real. My reality show is gonna be the realest on television. My children are smart. They challenge me. It’s not Run’s house by any means and it’s not Snoop’s show. I tell them if they don’t like something they can get the fuck out. I think I said that once an episode. I feel like on the other shows they just show the good side. They don’t show the real sides. My son tells me I’m not hood enough or like I’m not Black enough. Man please, get the fuck outta here. People are gonna see. It’s gonna make everybody after me, they gonna have to check themselves.

I feel you because even though I hate reality TV,  I watched Run’s house once and I was wondering where Run got all that money.

Well you gotta remember now, Russell is his brother. He got Run Athletics and they sold a lot of albums. I’m not really felling Russell and Run right now though because where is DMC? They just left this dude hangin’. The got fuckin’ D out doing personal appearances and shit. They left D hangin’. Why don’t D got his own shoe company? Russell could have helped D. It’s only right. Jam Master Jay is gone. D should have a mansion and a Bentley too.

I don’t need to get into too many details but I’m assuming your financial situation is pretty good.

Yeah I’ve been smart. I went through a bankruptcy a couple of years ago. I got fucked tax wise. My two biggest years where I made the most money in my life my accountant didn’t pay my taxes. And then my ex wife, that bitch was probably hiding money. I was too trusting back then. I was letting people run my business. You live and you learn and I think it was all for the best. I took care of my shit and I’ll never do it again.