Gangsta's Paradise

In 1995, Coolio had already broken through with "Fantastic Voyage" from his debut album It Takes a Thief, and he was working on material that would become his second album. "Gangsta's Paradise" came together with singer L.V. and producer Doug Rasheed, who built the track around an interpolation of Stevie Wonder's 1976 song "Pastime Paradise" from Songs in the Key of Life. Coolio freestyled the first couple of lines, and the rest of the lyrics arrived quickly in one sitting. He later claimed the song came from a source outside himself, saying it "wanted to be born" and had chosen him as the vessel. L.V. created the chorus by stacking his vocals many times so they sounded like a choir.

Released on August 1, 1995, through Tommy Boy, Warner Bros., and MCA Records, the single was the lead track for both the Dangerous Minds soundtrack and Coolio's album of the same name that November. Wonder's involvement shaped the recording itself. Coolio had written a few vulgarities into the lyrics, but Wonder objected to his song being paired with profanity, so the lines were changed, making it one of the few Coolio tracks without any.

The song reached number one in the United States, the United Kingdom, and across much of Europe, and it was the top-selling single of 1995 on the Billboard Hot 100. Coolio won a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, and the video, directed by Antoine Fuqua, featured Michelle Pfeiffer reprising her role from the film. It passed one billion YouTube views in July 2022.