This chili will burn your a– in more ways than one.
Legendary rapper turned food entrepreneur Coolio made a guest appearance at Downtown’s Hill Country Barbecue on Wednesday to cook up some hot tunes, answer fans’ burning questions, and serve his signature fiery chili — a dish he says he perfected as a kid under threat from his mom.
“My mother would give me a spoon and say, ‘stir this chili every five minutes and if you mess up I’ll kick your a–,’ ” he told the audience during a question and answer session.
The chili is from Coolio’s 2009 budget cookbook “Cookin’ with Coolio: Five-star meals at a one-star price” — so budget, his version doesn’t even have any meat in it.
But a rep for the eatery says it was happy to mix things up from its usual flesh-focused fare, and guests didn’t mind one bit, pouring into the Adams Street ’cue joint for a taste.
“It was awesome, it was everything we could’ve hoped for,” said Drew Kilman, who handles public relations for Hill Country.
During the meat-free meet-and-greet, the self-described “kitchen pimp” offered his sage cooking advice to the crowd, which included wearing the correct footwear and buying the right knives (he uses a signature set from Guy Fieri — who he also declared a kitchen pimp).
“Pimp your kitchen, don’t let your kitchen pimp you,” Coolio said.
The pigtailed pop-culture icon then regaled the audience with a rousing five-song performance. He suffered a small asthma attack, but pushed ahead thanks to an inhaler provided by an audience member, capping off the night his 1995 hit “Gangsta’s Paradise.”
