Cookin' with Coolio: 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price

THERE'S ONLY ONE THING THAT COOLIO'S BEEN DOING LONGER THAN RAPPING: COOKING

Coolio started making thirty-minute meals when he was ten years old and has since developed a whole new cuisine: Ghetto Gourmet. His recipes are built around solid comfort foods with a healthy twist that don't break the bank. Start your Ghetto Gourmet adventure with some "Soul Rolls," follow-up with "Finger-Lickin', Rib-Stickin', Fall-Off-the-Bone-and-into-Your-Mouth Chicken," and fi nish off with "Banana Ba-ba-ba-bread" sweetened with golden honey. Chapters such as "How to Become a Kitchen Pimp," "Chillin' and Grillin'," and "Pasta Like a Rasta" will guide you through creating 5 star meals at a 1 star price. You can't fi nd fusions like Blasian (black Asian) or Ghettalian (ghetto Italian) in restaurants, but you can have them cooking away in your kitchen faster and easier than ordering takeout. As Coolio says, "All you need is a little bit of food, and a little bit of know-how."

"Though best known hip-hop anthems like 'Gangsta's Paradise' and 'Fantastic Voyage,' musician Coolio has proven himself something of a Renaissance rapper in his internet series Cookin' With Coolio. Here, the artist adapts recipes from his web show without sacrificing any of the slang, attitude or casual vulgarity fans have come to expect. Referring to himself in both first and third person (sometimes within the space of a single paragraph), the self-proclaimed 'King of the Kitchen Pimps' teaches readers how to become a 'ghetto gourmet' with basics like scallops 'rap'd' in bacon, shrimp cocktail (Cold Shrimpin'), spaghetti (Bro-Ghetti), and lettuce wraps (Chicken Lettuce Blunts). Armed with garlic, onions, olive oil and balsamic vinegar, which appear in almost every recipe, Coolio provides step-by-step instructions only slightly more (less?) difficult to navigate for the slangy substitutions (dime bags rather than teaspoons), cheeky asides (step seven in Steak Fatricia: 'Pass out the sombreros and machetes'), and unnecessary expletives (Crazy Pollo Salad 'easily serves 4 crazy motherf****ers'). The irreverent energy can get tiring, especially when Coolio's indulging a slight misogynistic streak (chapter four is titled 'Salad-Eatin' Bitches'), but the basics are well-represented with a minimum of fuss or pre-planning." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

In Cookin' with Coolio, rap legend Coolio offers up tasty, easy-to-make and economical recipes built around comfort foods with a healthy twist.

Rap legend Coolio offers up tasty, easy-to-make, and economical recipes builtaround comfort foods with a healthy twist.

THERE'S ONLY ONE THING THAT COOLIO'S BEEN DOING LONGER THAN RAPPING: COOKING

Coolio started making thirty-minute meals when he was ten years old and has since developed a whole new cuisine: Ghetto Gourmet. His recipes are built around solid comfort foods with a healthy twist that don't break the bank. Start your Ghetto Gourmet adventure with some "Soul Rolls," follow-up with "Finger-Lickin', Rib-Stickin', Fall-Off-the-Bone-and-into-Your-Mouth Chicken," and fi nish off with "Banana Ba-ba-ba-bread" sweetened with golden honey. Chapters such as "How to Become a Kitchen Pimp," "Chillin' and Grillin'," and "Pasta Like a Rasta" will guide you through creating 5 star meals at a 1 star price. You can't fi nd fusions like Blasian (black Asian) or Ghettalian (ghetto Italian) in restaurants, but you can have them cooking away in your kitchen faster and easier than ordering takeout. As Coolio says, "All you need is a little bit of food, and a little bit of know-how."

Coolio, the multi-talented Grammy Award winning and multi-platinum selling artist, composer and actor, is one of the most popular and successful rappers worldwide. To date, Coolio has sold over 27 million records globally and has performed in concerts to adoring fans in Africa,Israel, Russia, Japan, Thailand, Brazil, Australia, Turkey and throughout Europe. In the diversified hip hop industry, Coolio is one of the few rap artists who has been able to garner mainstream success and critical acclaim. His reality show Coolio's Rules,which debuted on the Oxygen Network in October 2008, featured his catering business and continued where his internet TV hit Cookin' with Coolio left off.