Coolio’s untimely passing last year was a tragic loss to the Hip Hop community and beyond, but the LA rapper left fans with one final present for closure.
On Monday (August 28), Futurama aired the latest episode from its ongoing 11th season titled, “I Know What You Did Next Xmas.” In it, the rap veteran’s beloved character, Kwanzaa-bot, made its final appearance on the show and spat a quick verse.
AD LOADING...
“12 Slurms a-slurping/ 11 Benders burping/ 10 episodes dropping/ Nine Scruffys mopping/ 8 Leelas drinking/ 7 Zoidbergs stinking,” he rapped on the bittersweet countdown.
After a few more holiday-season references built around the show’s characters, he concluded: “And a voiceover credit for me.”
The preview clip for the episode features the MC’s final bars, followed by his cartoon alias riding off into the sunset as the words “In memory of Coolio” appear on the screen.
Just days after his death on September 28, 2022, Futurama executive producer David X. Cohen shared that he was shocked to learn of the rapper’s passing because the two had been in the studio not long before that, working on Coolio’s reprisal of the role.
With the late rapper’s lines and a few bars already recorded, the show moved forward with the return of Kwanzaa-bot but had to unfortunately dedicate the episode to Coolio’s memory.
The character was first introduced in 2001 in an episode titled, “A Tale Of Two Santas,” which also featured Chanukah Zombie and Santa Claus Robot as Coolio’s animated counterparts. Kwanzaa-bot made an appearance in the spin-off movie, Futurama: Bender’s Big Score in 2007 and came back once more when the show was picked up by Comedy Central in 2010.
Despite being best known for his music, the “Gangsta’s Paradise” rapper had more than 70 film and television credits to his name as an actor, according to IMDb. Many of those credits were cameos, especially during the earliest days of his career. He did, however, appear as full scripted characters in quite a few titles including Arli$$, Charmed and Daredevil.
AD LOADING...
Coolio, who also voiced characters for the animated series Static Shock and Gravity Falls, was set to appear in three new movies at the time of his death.
