Artis Leon Ivey, Jr . (born August 1, 1963), better known by the stage name Coolio, is an African-American rapper musician and actor . He became famous during 1994 with his debut single "Fantastic Voyage", and later during 1995 with the successful single "Gangsta's Paradise", which was part of the soundtrack for the film Dangerous Minds . During 2001, he was a special guest of the television program Beat the Geeks; he lost . In 2002 Coolio guest starred in the hit series Charmed, as a Lazarus demon, in the episode Marry Go Round . He played himself in the episode Coolio Runnings of the animated comedy program Duckman . He also voiced Kwanzaa-bot, a character featured in the "A Tale of Two Santas" episode of Futurama . In fact, according to the DVD commentary, the producers of Futurama were so impressed by his range of voices, that they said he could do voice-over work professionally . Coolio reprised the character for the direct-to-DVD feature Bender's Big Score . During 2002, Coolio was a contestant on the television program Celebrity Fear Factor . During the third round, he referred to himself as "El Cool Magnifico" (which would become the title of his fourth studio album) . That same year, he appeared on Celebrity Bootcamp and won . Coolio starred in the 2003 made-for-TV movie Dracula 3000, in which he played a space-faring stoner named 187, and the feature film Exposed, in which he played a rapper named "Bigg Heat" . Coolio played the role of US Navy sailor Franky in the 2004 Croatian film A Wonderful Night in Split. During 2004 he participated in the German Comeback Show where he finished as third behind Chris Norman and Benjamin Boyce. During 2007, Coolio made an appearance on America's Funniest Home Videos as a judge to give his opinions on the videos that were shown. .