NEWSWEEK: Coolio, where have you been? Coolio: I’m about to release [a new] album, “Steal Hear.” My six children have grown up. I’ve been divorced. Me and my new woman are working on a clothing line. And I’ve developed my culinary skills to a fine point. I’ve also changed my style of dress–I wear a lot of suits now.
Ah, so you’re a businessman? Well, you either be the business or you get played by the business.
Do you still have your braids? I sure do. I have them in a brohawk—that’s a mohawk for a brotha. My hairline has started to recede, so I had to change it up a little bit.
How’d the cooking show evolve? I’ve been cooking for a while; I even got a little formal training. Me and my cousin were playing around in the kitchen one day and I said, “Damn, what if we had a cooking show?” It became something we realized could be a reality.
What do you cook? I’ve taken a lot of traditional black recipes and made them healthy—taking the cholesterol out, taking the butter out. I also do fusion: Mex-Italian, Blasian [black Asian], Ghitalian [ghetto Italian].
What’s your best dish? Everything I cook is good.
What makes your show different from all the others? We use foods that poor people can afford. I’ll take a chicken outta Compton and make it taste better than Foster Farms. I’ll take a cow from Brooklyn and you can go get some Kobe beef and mine will taste better.
What’s with all the show references to Shaka Zulu? I say Shaka Zulu because I’ve got a bad habit of saying motherf—er. So instead of saying s–t or f–k, now I say, Shaka!
Who’s your main competitor? I like Rachel Ray. I like Bobby Flay. I like all them cats. But they are not the Gourmet Ghetto, baby. My motto is, I cook better than your Shaka Zulu mama. And I wash my hands a lot.
So, Coolio: rapper turned culinary connoisseur? Yeah. We’re gonna transfer this to frozen foods, to restaurants. I’m going all the way.
Are you making a profit? Coolio do not work for free, let me just say that. Coolio got six children, and Coolio likes nice things. And Coolio likes voluptuous women.