The sudden passing of his longtime buddy and working partner Coolio has left Montell Jordan “still grieving.”
The 53-year-old “This Is How We Do It” singer broke down in tears when discussing Thursday night’s unexpected death of the “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper.
That person is my friend, I repeat. My buddies are his children. He exclusively tells us that his ex-wife, daughters, and sons are all very, very good friends of ours.
Jordan claims to have last seen Coolio on September 22 in Frederick, Maryland, at a stop on the “I Love the 90’s” tour.
According to the “Get It on Tonite” singer, “I was with him last Thursday.” We collaborate on concerts, so yes, it’s heartbreaking.
Jordan claims that upon exiting and entering their respective dressing rooms backstage, he and Coolio just said to one another, “Hey, what’s up? How are you? ‘”
The R&B musician claims he never thought that would be the final time he spoke to his friend.
Jordan says, “I’ve been with him for weeks and months now, and I did not know — and still do not know — the circumstances surrounding his demise, but I did not see anything that would have given an indication that he was ill or that anything happened to him.
After being discovered dead on the toilet floor of a friend’s Los Angeles house on Wednesday, Coolio was 59 years old.
He is believed to have died of a heart arrest despite 45 minutes of recorded CPR attempts by EMTs. There hasn’t yet been an official cause of death revealed.
Their tight friendship went beyond music, according to Jordan, who was a featured performer on Coolio’s song “Homeboy” from the rapper’s 1997 album “My Soul.”
We’ve been going around in circles in life for almost 30 years, so it goes beyond the song we wrote together, he claims.
“It’s my friend, I adore him, and I haven’t totally processed that,” he continues.
While watching Wednesday night’s episode of “The Masked Singer,” in which he lost after competing as the “Panther,” Jordan learned of Coolio’s passing.
The “Let’s Ride” singer explains, “I was being unmasked and we were in the house celebrating when the text came, so it’s kind of how I digested ‘Masked Singer’ together with my friend kind of all at that time.
Jordan also discloses that he is now traveling through Los Angeles to visit Coolio’s family.
Meanwhile, other famous friends of the late “Fantastic Voyage” rapper took to social media to pay their respects.
Ice Cube tweeted, “I witness first hand this man’s grind to the top of the industry. Rest In Peace @Coolio.”