Artist Coolio

In addition to making rough-and-tumble rap, Coolio also apparently makes a mean caprese salad. The rapper broke in the early ’90s with singles like “Fantastic Voyage” and “Gangsta’s Paradise,” and has since shown his artistic flex with more than a dozen onscreen appearances (as himself and in bit parts) and with his online cooking show/companion book, Cookin’ With Coolio. (So ridiculous, it’s amazing.) But don’t think he’s gone totally soft in the last decade: Coolio maintained an abrasive persona on the U.K.’s Big Brother, and was busted at LAX on drug charges in 2009. He’s also continued to record, releasing mostly middling albums, the latest being From The Bottom 2 The Top.

Updated 12/20/2010