Rapper Coolio Avoids Jail On Cocaine Charges, Enters Drug Rehab Program

Rap artist Coolio has avoided going to jail by entering an 18-month drug rehabilitation program after pleading guilty to charges of possession of cocaine, according to reports.

As reported on HipHopRX.com, Coolio, born Artis Leon Ivey, Jr, 45, was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after authorities searched the rapper’s luggage and ‘busted’ Coolio with what was believed to be crack cocaine.

At the time, while going through security screening before his Southwest Airlines flight, Coolio reportedly got physical with an airport screener while preparing to board a plane to Tulsa, Ok for a booking at the Flytrap Music Hall along with Tone Loc and Shock G of The Digital Underground. However, authorities dropped Coolio’s charges of resisting arrest and battery for his guilty plea to cocaine possession.

That reportedly was not Coolio’s only run-in with trouble — on last month, Coolio was reportedly involved in a nightclub brawl, as reported on HipHopRX.com, where audience members began throwing objects such as plastic bottles and ice cubes at the rapper who was reportedly robbed of his jewelry, his glasses, shoes, and other possessions and assaulted by numerous audience members after attempting a stage dive.

As a hip hop music artist, Coolio is most known for his 1990′s hit songs “Fantastic Voyage” off his debut album “It Takes a Thief” and song “Gangsta’s Paradise” off the self-entitled quadruple-platinum album “Gangsta’s Paradise.”