Big Pun

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Biography

Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 & ndash; February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher ), was a Puerto Ricans in the United States|Puerto-Rican American rapping|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, heavy use of alliteration as well as internal and multi-syllabic rhyming schemes. Big Pun died of a myocardial infarction|heart attack at age 28. About.com ranked him #25 on its list of the 50 Greatest MCs of Our Time (1987 - 2007), http://rap.about.com/od/toppicks/ss/Top50Emcees_6.htm while MTV2 ranked him #11 on its list of the "22 Greatest MCs." http://blogcritics.org/music/article/22-greatest-mcs/

Early life

Big Pun grew up in New York City 's South Bronx neighborhood. At the age of 5 young Rios broke his leg while playing in a New York park, which would later lead to a large settlement from the city. By all accounts from Pun's family, his early years were very difficult, including witnessing his mother's drug abuse , his father's death, YouTube. 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.Still Not a Player, Documentary

Music career

Sometime during the '90s, he began to write rap lyrics, forming the Full-A-Clips crew with Triple Seis, and Cuban Link who was at the time named "Lyrical Assassin". At this point Big Pun was operating under the alias Big Moon Dawg. Rios met fellow Puerto Rican and Bronx rapper Fat Joe in 1992 and made his commercial debut on Joe's second album, Jealous One's Envy, in addition to appearing on a b-side to Joe's "Envy" single, "Fire Water."

Later, "I'm Not a Player" (featuring an O'Jays sample) was supported by a significant advertising campaign and became an Underground music|underground hit.
;Capital Punishment
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 (singer)|Joe and titled " Still Not a Player ," became Big Pun's first major Mainstream (terminology)|mainstream hit and major breakthrough for Knobody. The full-length debut Capital Punishment (album)|Capital Punishment followed in 1998, and became the first album by a solo Latino rapper to go RIAA certification|platinum , peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200 . Capital Punishment was also nominated for a Grammy. Pun's second album " Yeeeah Baby", although not as successful as his first also went platinum producing two solid hits in "it's So Hard" and "100%".

Big Pun became a member of Terror Squad (group)|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 (Terror Squad album)|The Album in 1999. The album didn't fare well commercially but it was well received critically and the album was meant to start the foundation for all other terror squad members to release their solo projects.

Death

Excluding his adolescence , Big Pun struggled with his weight for most of his life; his weight fluctuated in the early 1990s between Obesity|obese and morbidly obese. Big Pun partook in a weight-loss program in North Carolina, in which he lost , 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|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 (rapper)|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. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.8973/title.big-pun-the-legacy-dvd-coming-this-summer Big Pun: The Legacy Coming This Summer

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. http://hiphopruckus.com/2010/09/big-pun-special-edition-now-available.html/ Big Pun: Special Edition Now Available

The soundtrack to the film, "The Legacy: The Best of Big Pun" was released through Legacy/Columbia Records/ Sony Music on September 15, 2009. http://www.discogs.com/Big-Pun-The-Legacy-The-Best-Of-Big-Pun/release/2488944 The Best of Big Pun

Upon his death, Big Pun was honored by a group of students at the University of Dayton, where an annual foosball tournament was renamed "The Christopher 'Big Pun' Rios Foosball Championship." Winners would traditionally declare that they "crushed a lot" en route to victory.

Personal Life

Family

Big Pun met his wife Liza in the eighth grade. They had three children together. The youngest one is carrying on his father's legacy under the alias Chris Rivers (formerly Baby Pun ) who started to write rhymes after his father's death. Rivers' debut album is yet to be released.

Legal issues

On September 8, 1998, Fat Joe and Big Pun were arrested on assault charges for hitting a man with a baseball bat and stealing the man's gold chain on June 14 that year.

Discography

Studio albums

1998: Capital Punishment (album)|Capital Punishment

2000: Yeeeah Baby

Posthumous albums

2001: Endangered Species (Big Pun album)|Endangered Species

Filmography

Moesha (1998) – Himself (as Big Punisher)

Thicker Than Water (1999 film)|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)

Copyright Citations

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Big Pun Photo by: hiphoparchive.org


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