Coolio Gets Ready for Court

Preparing for his Oct. 21 court date in Southern California's South Bay Court to face misdemeanor charges of carrying a concealed weapon and possession of marijuana, hip-hopper Coolio sounds confident he'll be able to beat the rap. "I'm not bitter about it ... this is not going to hurt me a whole lot as far as my career. It's not going to hurt me too much personally; I might have to spend a little money to get an attorney, but I'm not going to jail," said Coolio, who's currently working on his fourth album. "I'm not going to do any time. If I get a fine it's not going to be more than like $500 or $1,000." Arrested Sept. 15 after a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department deputy spotted the rapper driving his sports utility vehicle on the wrong side of the road, Coolio (born Artis Leon Ivey), 35, could face up to a year in county jail and a fine for vehicle code violations, if convicted. Addressing each of the charges individually, Coolio painted the incident as a small one that snowballed into something larger. "They're like, 'You're on the wrong side of the street.' I'm like, 'OK, I'm dropping my kids off.' I'm on a residential street, I'm not blocking traffic, I'm not doing anything wrong," said Coolio. "The first thing he asked was, 'Do you have any guns in the car,' " Coolio continued, "and I'm like, 'Yes, I have a gun in the car. It's unloaded and it's right here in the side pocket because me and my wife go every Tuesday to shoot.' "