Coolio Not Cool About Label Troubles -- He's Angry About Battle Over Tommy Boy's Tactics

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Coolio, 8 p.m. Thursday at DV8; $16.50,206-628-0888.

In a word, Coolio is angry.

The Grammy winner with the Medusa haircut and a catchy turn of phrase has not been his usual, amiable self. First, he was in Superior Court in Torrance, Calif., May 19, re-entering a not-guilty plea to a concealed-weapon charge he was arrested for last September. The rapper must go back to court July 7 for another pretrial hearing.

Meanwhile, the Compton-based rapper born Artis Ivey remains embroiled in a legal battle already two years old, with former powerhouse rap label Tommy Boy. Coolio said Tommy Boy "fell apart" and no longer knew what it was doing. Employees began leaving the label, further complicating the relationship, he said.

The New York-based label has been shopping Coolio's contract to other labels. According to Coolio, Tommy Boy is asking $1.5 million, a price no one so far is willing to pay.

"They're (Tommy Boy) trying to sell their slave," Coolio said by phone from Los Angeles. "Master Tom over there on the plantation, you know what I'm saying, is cracking the whip . . . like I did something wrong. I did everything they ever asked me to do."

Until the Tommy Boy debacle is settled, Coolio cannot sign to another label - much less join his own Crowbar label. But instead of waiting for daylight to reappear on his career, the rapper has taken matters into his own hands, independently recording a CD's worth of new music he's calling "Dead Man Walking." He recruited rappers B-Real and Krazy Krome for the project, which is complete but for final mixing. He hopes he'll be able to sort out his label troubles and release it by September.

"We're trying to make this a Year 2000 marketing record," Coolio said. He said he wants to use an "in your face marketing" strategy to get his music to the people.

Part of that strategy is to go on tour. He embarks on his "18-City Mission" tour tomorrow night in Seattle. Coolio's set will include songs from "Dead Man" and his three previous CDs: 1994's multiplatinum debut, "It Takes a Thief," which featured the MTV staple "Fantastic Voyage" - a catchy reworking of the 1980 Lakeside original; 1995's "Gangsta's Paradise," for which he won a Grammy; and 1997's "My Soul," his final Tommy Boy release.

Coolio's rapping style has always advanced through the years. During the late 1980s, he rapped with an understated Eric B. and Rakim style.

He moved to gangsta-style pop with "It Takes a Thief," a more positive spin on the gangsta rap of other Compton rappers like Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E. The follow-up "Paradise" saw more polish. He used a choir for the title song, and deftly applied the jazzy backdrop of Kool & The Gang's "Too Hot" for an introspective rap about the vicious cycle of communicable diseases.

"The thing that separates me from a lot of people (is that) every song I do, I use a different style of rap," Coolio said. "I change my styles."

As for his current style? Look at his situation, and it becomes pretty clear. "I'm sort of angry right now."