The 45-year-old rapper, whose real name is Artis Leon Ivey, was going through airport security March 6 when he allegedly grabbed a security screener’s arm. Authorities maintain Coolio grabbed the screener in an attempt to prevent his bag from being searched.
Too bad for Coolio, that didn’t work out the way he allegedly intended. The screener did search the bag, hence the coke possession charge. And because Coolio grabbed the screener’s arm, the rapper gets a battery charge on top of the drug charge.
Right now the number of charges facing Coolio is three – one felony count of possession, one misdemeanor count of battery and one misdemeanor count of paraphernalia. The rapper has been released on $10,000 bail and is scheduled for an April 3 arraignment.
If convicted, Coolio could get up to three years in prison. Which is 11 years shorter than the number of years it has been since he's had a hit album, 1995's Gangsta's Paradise.