'Gangsta's Paradise' is the second album by American rapper Coolio in November 1995. The song 'Gangsta's Paradise', based on Stevie Wonder's 'Pastime Paradise', was the number one biggest-selling single of 1995 on U.S. Billboard. In 2008, it was ranked number 38 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop. NME listed the song at number 100 in their ranking of '100 Best Songs of the 1990s' in 2012. Coolio was awarded a Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance, two MTV Video Music Awards for Best Rap Video and Best Video from a Film and a Billboard Music Award for the song/album. The song was voted as the best single of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll.
Due to the sampling of Stevie Wonder's music, "Gangsta's Paradise" is one of the few Coolio tracks that did not contain any profanity, as Wonder did not appreciate his song being paired with profanity. Coolio said, "I had a few vulgarities...and he wasn't with that. So I changed it. Once he heard it, he thought it was incredible."