Exclusive: Coolio Cooks Up A Comeback, Preps Upcoming Shows

It's been about a decade since fans last heard from Coolio. recently caught up with the West Coast rapper to find out what he's been up to. In this exclusive interview we talk to Coolio about his upcoming reality TV venture, his new album and his online cooking show.

The rapper has new show debuting tomorrow (Feb. 11) appropriately called "Cooking with Coolio," which puts him in the kitchen with his assistant chef and cousin, Jarez.

"Anybody can cook," Coolio told. "Didn't you see Ratatouille?"

The animated film tells a story of an ambitious rat who desperately wants to become a chef. While Coolio says his culinary skills aren't as unlikely, he says his specialty is chicken.

"I make finger licking rib sticking, fall off the bone and into your mouth chicken," he said. "I really like my chicken deep fried like you deep fry turkey."

But he said he can cook just about anything.

"Steak, chicken, vegetables, fish, shellfish, whatever. Everything ... turkey eggrolls ... we don't call call them egg rolls though, we call them soul rolls."

Coolio and his cousin have been cooking together since before the cameras came into the kitchen. It's where the family hangs out.

"Me and my cousin used to sit in the kitchen and cook and one day I said, 'damn, what if we had a cooking show?' I said, 'it'd be like this ...' And I started doin something and he said, 'I would do this ...'" Coolio recalled. "People would come over for dinner and whatever and we would pretend like we had a cooking show just to f*ck around."

Then the two hooked up with a writer, Elan Gale and began seriously shopping around the idea. But the rapper said interested networks wanted to water down the show's flavor.

"They just wanted a cooking show, they didn't want a cooking show with comedy," Coolio said.

So they went the internet route instead. Though produced on a small budget, the show has already taped 11 episodes for this season. And Coolio has bigger plans for next season, including a live audience and a DJ.

When he's not in the kitchen, Coolio's still in the studio working on his upcoming release Steal Hear.

"I'm still here but I will Steal Hear. I'm here to steal your ear," Coolio explained. "You been listening to bullsh*t for so long that you forgot what's real.

Fans can see the real, unscripted Coolio on an upcoming Oxygen channel reality show set to air later this year. No title as of yet, but he said the show will follow him around in his daily life as he launches a business. Coolio was tight lipped about what that business is.

"Cooking with Coolio" produced by Dead Crow Pictures debuts tomorrow on mydamnchannel.com, streaming at 1 p.m. EST. A new episode will air every Wednesday.