Artis Ivey Jr. moved to Compton from Pennsylvania at age eight and worked through addiction and legal trouble before breaking out with 1994's It Takes a Thief and the hit "Fantastic Voyage." 1995's "Gangsta's Paradise" went global, topped charts worldwide and won the Grammy for Best Rap Solo Performance — the BBC credited it with bringing hip-hop to a genuinely mainstream audience. Sold over 17 million records and racked up more than 2.3 billion Spotify streams. Died September 28, 2022, at 59.
