Big Pun

Big Pun
File:Big Pun1.jpg
Background information
Birth name	Christopher Lee Rios
Also known as	Big Punisher
Genres	Hip Hop, Mafioso Rap
Years active	1995–2000
Labels	Loud

Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was a Puerto Rican rapper who emerged from the underground rap scene in The Bronx in the late 1990s. He first appeared on albums from The Beatnuts, on the track "Off the Books" in 1997, and on Fat Joe's second album Jealous One's Envy in 1995, on the track "Watch Out", prior to signing to Loud Records as a solo artist. Pun's lyrics are notable for technical efficiency, having minimal pauses to take a breath, and heavy use of internal and multi-syllabic rhyming schemes. Big Pun died of a heart attack at age 28.

Early life

Big Pun grew up in New York City's South Bronx neighborhood and is of Puerto Rican descent. By all accounts from Pun's family, his early years were very difficult, including witnessing his mother's drug abuse, his father's death, and a stepfather who was very hard on Pun. According to his grandmother, Pun would become angry and self-destructive, punching holes in the walls of his family's apartment. Rios dropped out of high school and for some time was homeless staying in abandoned buildings or at friends' homes.

Music career

During the 1980s, Big Punisher was already a rapper. At this point Big Pun was operating under the alias Big Moon Dawg. Rios met fellow Puerto Rican and Rutland rapper Fat Joe in 1995 and made his commercial debut on Joe's second album, Jealous Ones Envy, in addition to appearing on a b-side to Joe's "Envy" single, "Fire Water" and "Watch Out."

Later, "I'm Not a Player" (featuring an O'Jays sample) was supported by a significant advertising campaign and became an underground hit.

In 1997, producer Knobody's production partner Sean C took advantage of his new role as A&R at Loud Records to play Knobody's tracks to Big Pun. Suitably impressed the rapper hired Knobody to remix "I'm Not a Player". The remixed song, featuring Joe and titled "Still Not a Player," became Big Pun's first major mainstream hit and major breakthrough for Knobody. The full-length debut Capital Punishment followed in 1998, and became the first album by a solo Latino rapper to go platinum, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200. Capital Punishment was also nominated for a Grammy, but lost out on the award to Jay-Z's Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life.

Big Pun became a member of Terror Squad, a New York-based group of rappers founded by Fat Joe, with most of the roster supplied by the now-defunct Full a Clips Crew who released their debut album The Album in 1999.

In 1999, he co-starred in the Albert Pyun-directed film Urban Menace, alongside his frequent collaborator Fat Joe. In 2000, Vh1 voted Big Pun as the best rapper of the 90's.

Death

Excluding his adolescence, Big Pun struggled with his weight for most of his life; his weight fluctuated in the early 1990s between obese and morbidly obese. Big Pun enrolled in a weight-loss program in North Carolina, in which he lost 80 pounds (36 kg), but he eventually quit the program before completing it, returning to New York and gaining back the weight he had lost. On February 7, 2000, Big Pun suffered a fatal heart attack and respiratory failure while temporarily staying with family at a Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains, New York during a home renovation. Pun was pronounced dead at the hospital after paramedics could not revive him. Big Pun was at his highest weight at the time of his death, being 698 pounds. He was cremated a few days later. His second album, Yeeeah Baby, was released two months later.

Legacy

Big Pun: The Legacy documentary

An authorized documentary "Big Pun: The Legacy" was released on September 15, 2009. The film contains multiple interviews with artists, actors, close friends and others whose lives were touched by Big Pun, as well as rare exclusive performances and scene interviews with Big Pun himself. The film also features appearances by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Method Man, U-God, Liza Rios, Xzibit, Cuban Link, Swizz Beatz, DJ Skribble, Chino XL and many more. The film was directed by Vlad Yudin and was distributed through Vivendi/Universal.

A different version of the DVD "Big Pun: The Legacy," was released called "Big Pun: The Legacy (Special Collector's Edition)" a little over a year later on September 28, 2010 through EMI Label Group. This film includes never-before-seen footage and the “Lost Files” archive.

The soundtrack to the films, "The Legacy: The Best of Big Pun" was released through Legacy/Columbia Records/Sony Music on September 15, 2009. lol

Discography

Main article: Big Pun discography

Studio albums

• 1998: Capital Punishment
• 2000: Yeeeah Baby

Posthumous albums

• 2001: Endangered Species

Filmography

• Moesha (1998) – Himself (as Big Punisher)
• Thicker Than Water (1999) – Punny
• Urban Menace (1999) – Crow
• Whiteboyz (1999) – Don Flip Crew (uncredited)
• Boricua's Bond (2000) – Himself (as Big Punisher)
• Still Not a Player (2002) – Himself (archive footage)
• Big Pun Live (2002) – Himself (archive footage)
• Big Pun: The Legacy (2009) – Himself (archive footage)
• Big Pun: The Legacy (Special Collector's Edition) (2010) - Himself (archive footage)

External links

• Big Pun Forever Tribute site founded 2001
• Big Pun at IMDb

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