How Coolio failed a stage dive in Stoke-on-Trent and got his shoes stolen
Coolio sold millions of albums throughout his career, with his Grammy-winning single, ‘Gangsta’s Paradise,’ making him a household name in 1995. But decades later, the rapper’s career was a bit less high-profile, and he was playing shows in decidedly more modest venues.
In 2009, Coolio, who passed away in 2022, was doing a gig in Stoke-on-Trent, which hardly has the most gangsta of reputations, as cities go. He was performing on the Staffordshire University campus based in the city, and, during his set, he decided to dive off the stage. It did not go well.
Coolio, who was in his 40s at the time, flopped off the stage into the crowd of students. They, in turn, went for him.
As one witness put it, as reported by The Standard, “He nearly flattened one poor girl then all the students decided to launch on him.”
The students started to tear away Coolio’s valuables, before security managed to intervene to help him escape. “They grabbed whatever they could,” the witness recalled, “including his trainers, watch, chains and glasses.”
Coolio, reflecting on the incident in 2017, was gracious about it. “I consider my UK fans, friends, and fellow artists as family,” he said. “Most of the time I enjoy coming, apart from that one time.”
Coolio was set to return to England in 2017, as part of a ’90s nostalgia tour alongside acts such as Salt N Pepa and Vanilla Ice. Six shows were scheduled, and Coolio, despite what had happened to him in Stoke, was looking forward to them.
But he joked that he was coming prepared this time. He was going to remove his shoes and jewellry before he met any fans, just in case they went for them again. You can’t be too careful.
Coolio took the Stoke incident in good humour, and, even though it was English students that had tried to steal from him, four years later he was back gigging for them again. In 2013 he rapped for students in Preston, and he even cooked dinner for them, too.