So there I am shuffling into work on a pissy Thursday morning when I'm pulled aside by the cool dudes at Zulu-Tattoo who inform me that Coolio, the actual rapper behind classic hit Gangsta's Paradise and those crazy pony-tail thingys, is inside having his ink updated.
With little more than a trace of make-up (like seriously, who wants to be photographed with a rapper, or any celebrity for that matter, without their eyebrows filled in?), I then dragged entertainment.ie scribe Brian Lloyd along with me, for moral support. A random Thursday morning story would surely ensue.
Once inside Zulu Tattoo, we were swiftly introduced to Coolio's homies before I came face to face with the man himself, just winding down after a wild night in Dublin that began with a performance at DCU's Fresher's ball.
The man himself then sat me down beside him, hugs and kisses were exchanged, and then he got right down to business.
Coolio: 'Are you married?'
Me: *quivering* 'Um, no?'
Coolio: 'Have you got a boyfriend?'
Me: *nervous giggle* 'Eh, yeah, yeah kinda.'
Coolio: 'You want two?'
Me: *lost the plot at this stage* 'Um, maybe? Anyway, Coolio, what has you here in Dublin?'
Coolio: 'I played a Freshers ball last night, and I'm getting my tattoo finished now'
Me: 'Cool, what's the tattoo?'
Coolio: 'It's the sheet music to Gangsta's Paradise'
Me: 'Awesome, I have your song on a CD in my car'
Coolio: 'Cool, you got a card?'
Me: 'Shit, not with me, I do upstairs though'
Coolio: 'OK, you go and bring that back to me.'
Me: 'BRIAN! BRIAN? BRIAN!'
Brian: 'Hey Caroline, we better go, don't we have that meeting?'
Me: 'Awh shit, yeah, yeah we do, sorry Coolio, I gotta bounce.'
More hugs ensue, he gives me back my hipster glasses that he had tried on (should I auction them on eBay? Surely there's some crazy Coolio fans still in existence?).
And then it's out the door and back into the office. Tea gets made, toast gets eaten and it's as if my brush with Coolio was all but a dream. I spend the next few hours dreaming of a paradise in which I'm a gangsta's wife. All the money, and the power, (minute after minute, hour after hour).
