Las Vegas Sun

April 25, 2024

Rapper Coolio arrested in Las Vegas traffic stop

Lauren Bosworth, Jermaine Dupri, Nicky Hilton, NFL Stars and more at Chateau

David Becker | WireImage

Coolio at Chateau inside Paris on March 18, 2011.

Updated Friday, March 9, 2012 | 5:44 p.m.

Artis Ivey

Artis Ivey

Grammy Award-winning rapper Coolio was arrested early Friday morning, according to Metro Police.

Metro spokesman Bill Cassell said the rapper, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey Jr., was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over for a routine traffic stop.

Cassell said Ivey, 48, was arrested after police discovered he was wanted on two outstanding misdemeanor warrants, one for driving without a license, the other for illegal stop, standing or parking.

According to an official at the Clark County Detention Center, Coolio was booked about 2:40 a.m. As of 1:30 p.m., he was still in custody but was in the process of being released, a jail official said.

The official said Ivey would be released without posting bail on the premise that he will go to his court hearing.

Coolio's 22-year-old son, Grtis Ivey, also is being held in the same detention center without bail on multiple charges, including robbery with a deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping with a deadly weapon, grand larceny and conspiracy to commit a robbery for an incident last November, authorities said.

Coolio is best known for his 1995 chart-topping hit, “Gangsta’s Paradise.” The National Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded Coolio the Best Rap Solo performance Grammy in 1996 for “Gangsta’s Paradise.”

CORRECTION: This corrects an earlier version of the story to note Grtis Ivey already was in the Clark County Detention Center. | (March 10, 2012)

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