Coolio: My Soul

With numerous hit singles, cameos in movies as diverse as Batman & Robin and Phat Beach, and two Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards under his belt, the instantly recognizable Coolio finds himself in a tight spot, if one familiar to predecessors like LL Cool J: How do you keep the street cred crucial to maintaining your hardcore fan base, without alienating new listeners earned through Top 40 radio and MTV exposure This dilemma may explain why My Soul has an inordinate—even for a rap album—number of tracks that find Coolio asserting his legitimacy, not to mention the weird "Interlude" that features diverse voices offering advice as to what he should do next. There's even a demonic presence at the album's start that claims to have come for his soul. Fortunately, Coolio's music has always depended more on its accessible-without-seeming-diluted pop appeal than a harder-than-hard image, and, because his new album continues in that vein, Coolio has a better chance of staying in the game than, say, ABC cop-show star Ice T. With a catchiness reminiscent of unavoidable singles like "Fantastic Voyage" and "Gangsta's Paradise," the cautiously positive "C U When U Get There" will be the hook that grabs listeners, but My Soul is a consistently entertaining record. While addressing such groundbreaking topics as sex (on "Ooh La La"; he's for it), drugs ("The Devil Is Dope"; against), and inferior rappers ("Hit 'Em"; also against), Coolio successfully rides '70s funk beats for all they're worth. Though he may never be on the cutting edge, albums like My Soul should allow Coolio to continue balancing popular success with winning material, at least until his management starts marketing Coolio Dress 'n' Play Dolls.