Remember when rapper, Coolio, turned Stevie Wonder’s, “Pasttime Paradise” into the chart topping rap hit, “Gangsta’s Paradise?” In that 90’s classic, Coolio rapped about spending most his life “living in a gangsta’s paradise” and vented about taking a look at his life and realizing “there’s nothing left.” Years after that, Coolio would probably agree that it felt far better spittin’ those bars in a booth, than to be behind bars with his own son. Coolio (57) was 48 at the time and his son was 22.
The rap OG and his son, Gritis Ivey, were once in a bit of a pickle when they were locked up in the same jail together a few years ago. Now, things have changed for Coolio, but as far Gritis, the jury’s still out.
How They Ended Up Imprisoned Together
In 2012 Coolio (real name Artis Leon Ivey Jr.) and Gritis Ivey were locked up in a Las Vegas, NV jail for two totally different crimes. Turns out, Gritis’ crime was WAAAAY harsher than his pops.
Coolio’s arrest
In March 2012, Coolio and a friend were riding down some street in Vegas, when they were pulled over by cops for a routine traffic violation.
Little did Coolio know, he was about to be cuffed. Why? Because when the police officer ran his name through the system, it was discovered that Coolio had two active bench warrants for multiple traffic violations. Even though Coolio was riding in the passenger seat on that particular day, the officers weren’t doing him any favors. They immediately handcuffed him and hauled him down to Clark County Detention Center. That’s where his son comes into play.
Son’s arrest
Unbeknownst to many, Coolio’s son, Gritis, was already at the county jail for a crazy crime of his own. At that time, he was being held without bail for many charges, including robbery with a deadly weapon, first degree kidnapping and grand larceny. By the time his pops was ushered into the facility in March 2012, Gritis had already been there for approximately four months!
According to NY Daily News, Gritis and his female prostitute friend set up a man and ultimately robbed him.
Via DailyNews:
According to police reports…the prostitute, Shantrice Wilkerson, convinced a man named Joseph Hall to take her back to his apartment from the Luxor nightclub after they met.
Wilkerson allegedly told Hall she had a “dream” of having sex on a pile of money. Hall reportedly offered $5,000 to create the aforementioned pile, and Wilkerson agreed – but when the prostitute then demanded the money Hall had removed from his safe, he grew angry and left the scene.
Wilkerson remembered where Hall lived, however, and reportedly asked Grtis to help her wipe his apartment clean three days later.
TMZ also reported that Gritis forced his way into Hall’s apartment with a gun in his hand and Wilkerson was with him. They allegedly locked Hall’s roommate in the bathroom after realizing he was in the apartment. Then, the two criminal masterminds reportedly got away with two iPads, a safe, two laptop computers, passports, and a few other possessions they knew damn well they shouldn’t have stolen.
The roommate was later able to pick them out of a lineup and to jail they went.
Where They Are Now
Fast forward to the present and it’s great to see Coolio out here as a free man and still doing what he loves: performing his classics for his die-hard fans at various concerts.
Gritis on the other hand, may STILL be in jail. We couldn’t get confirmation on his whereabouts at this time, but what we do know, is that he was facing up to TEN YEARS in prison for his crime. Here’s what was reported in 2012:
Via TMZ- A rep for the Clark County District Attorney’s office tells TMZ, 22-year-old Grtis was sentenced to serve between 42-120 months in prison — meaning he has to serve at LEAST 42 months … but if the Nevada Department of Corrections finds good reason, it can hold him for up to 10 years.
Ivey agreed to plead guilty to felony robbery — and in exchange, prosecutors dropped the remaining felony charges.
Betcha Gritis will think first the next time he has the urge to go on a criminal adventure.
