Rapper Coolio, who has been in music for more than twenty years, is giving it all up to advance his cooking career.
Coolio released his first single in 1991 and scored a number 1 hit in 1995 with Gangsta’s Paradise along with two other top ten hits, Fantastic Voyage (1993 / #3) and 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin’ New) (1996 / #5) but that is all behind him now.
It all started when he appeared on the Food Channel’s Celebrity Chefs in 2009 and led to the bestselling cookbook Cookin’ With Coolio the following year. Now, the rapper is selling off the royalty rights to his catalog to publish additional books and start a cooking show.
Sean Pace of The Royalty Exchange, who is auctioning the rights, said “The Coolio song catalogue auction is an exciting and rare opportunity for anyone looking for an alternative investment in music publishing and songwriter royalties. We are thrilled to be able to offer royalties attached to such an iconic artist, and to assist interested parties in the research, registration and bidding process.”
The auction begins at Noon on August 28 and runs until August 29 at 2 PM. Opening bid is $140,000.