Coolio’s friends suspect rapper’s history of asthma might have factored into his unexpected passing at 59

Friends of late rapper Coolio have said they suspect his battle with asthma was a factor in his death at 59 last week.

Insiders close to the Gangsta’s Paradise performer told TMZ that the rapper had difficulty with asthma over the years, and would keep inhalers on him to regulate his breathing.

Relatives of the ‘C U When U Get There’ rapper told medical officials that he had a history of asthma, the outlet reported.

According to the American Heart Association, people who live with asthma are at a higher risk to suffer a heart attack; and people who take medication for the condition are 60 percent more likely to deal with heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiac incidents.

The Fantastic Voyage rapper had performed multiple times in sets up to 40 minutes on the I Love the ’90s musical tour. His friend and colleague Montell Jordan said he was shocked by Coolio’s premature death

‘I’ve been with him for weeks and for months now and I did not know – and still don’t know – the circumstances behind his passing, but I did not see anything that would have given an indication that he was ill or that anything happened to him,’ Jordan, 53, told Page Six.

Jordan had past collaborated with Coolio on the 1997 track Homeboy from Coolio’s My Soul record. He said: ‘It goes beyond the song that we did together. We’ve run around in circles of each other in life for 20-something years, almost 30 years.’

Coolio, whose real name was Artis Leon Ivey Jr., died at his friend’s Los Angeles home Wednesday, his manager Jarez Posey told The Associated Press. There was no immediate cause of death announced.

Insiders told TMZ that in the fatal incident, Coolio had walked into the bathroom, locked the door, and apparently fell. His friend broke the door to access him, and medical personnel worked on him for 45 minutes to try and resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

An autopsy is now underway to establish the official cause of death though law enforcement sources shared that ‘no drugs or drug paraphernalia were found at the scene’ and they do not suspect foul play.

Paramedics suspected he suffered a cardiac arrest, according to the star’s longtime manager Posey.

The track Gangsta’s Paradise topped the US Billboard Hot 100 for three weeks and won Coolio the Grammy award for best rap solo performance in 1996.

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.