Big Punisher: 1971-2000: Rapper

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Big Punisher: 1971-2000: Rapper

Puerto Rican rapper Big Punisher, also known as Big Pun, was the first Latin-American hip-hop star. He brought Latino rap—popular before only in his South Bronx neigh-borhood—into the hip-hop mainstream, which has typically been dominated by African-American artists. His first hit single, "I'm Not a Player," set the stage for the release of his immensely successful 1998 full-length debut, Capital Punishment. The album was the first by a Latin rapper to earn double-platinum status for record sales. Big Pun sealed his place in history by becoming the first Latin rapper to be nominated for a Grammy award. The rapper's name referred to his great size; many MCs rapped about "living large," but Big Pun was medically obese—he weighed in at nearly 700 pounds at the time of his death from heart failure, in 2000.

Big Pun was born Christopher Rios on November 10, 1971, in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City. He was raised in a strict household by his mother and militaristic stepfather, and was in good shape as a teen. He enjoyed boxing and basketball. Conflicts with his parents caused him to leave home at age 15. He dropped out of high school after just one year, but Big Pun read encyclopedias on his own to expand his knowledge and vocabulary. Within a few years, he was an expectant father with bills to pay, and worked odd jobs until collecting on a long-standing legal claim. He received an estimated half-million dollars from an accident that took place in a public park when he was a child. He began overeating to cope with stress and, with his slow metabolism, began to pack on the pounds. In 1990 he married his junior high school sweetheart, Liza. The two had three children together: Christopher, Vanessa, and Amanda.

Discovered by Fat Joe

In 1989 Big Pun, who then went by the moniker Big Moon Dog, formed the Full-A-Clips Crew with fellow Latin rappers Triple Seis and Cuban Link. Popular Bronx producer and fellow Puerto Rican rapper Joseph Cartagena, a.k.a. Fat Joe, singled Big Pun out in 1995, after hearing the hefty rapper rhyme. "I knew he was one of the great ones," Fat Joe told Aliza Valdes-Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Times. "I was totally impressed by his rapping, the delivery with the tongue-twisting metaphors."

At a Glance . . .

Born Christopher Rios on November 10, 1971, in Bronx, NY; died on February 7, 2000, in White Plains, NY; married Liza; three children.

Career: Rap singer, 1989-2000.

Big Pun and Fat Joe developed a close relationship; Big Pun would later refer to Fat Joe, who weighed in at 300 pounds himself, as his "twin." The two would later become heroes of New York's Puerto Rican community; they each rode their own floats in the 1998 and 1999 Puerto Rican Day parades in New York City. Fat Joe immediately recognized Pun's extraordinary rhyming and lyrical skills, and invited him to record a cameo on Fat Joe's song "Watch Out." Renamed Big Punisher, the rapper became part of the Terror Squad, a crew made up of the Latin rappers associated with Fat Joe. Soon after his recording debut, Fat Joe negotiated Pun's contract with New York's Loud Records. Pun was one of the few newcomers included on The Mix Tape Vol. 1, a compilation put together by influential New York DJ Funkmaster Flex.

Pun released the single "I'm Not a Player" in the winter of 1997, and his debut full-length album, Capital Punishment, followed a few months later. The album featured cameos by some of the hottest names in hip hop at the time: Wyclef Jean on the reggae-flavored song "Caribbean Connection," Black Thought from the Roots on "Super Lyrical," and Wu-Tang Clan's Inspectah Deck and Prodigy from Mobb Deep on "Tres Leches." Big Pun laments mistreatment from an ex-lover in the ballad "Punish Me" and, on the album's closer, "Parental Discretion," featuring Busta Rhymes, Pun let loose one of the tongue-twisting, run-on rhymes he was famous for: "I recollect when I was just a boy eating Chips Ahoy/wasn't allowed to raise my voice/now I'm making noise." The single "Still Not a Player" pushed the album to platinum status within a few months of its release.

Pun was known for his remarkable breath control and ability to squeeze out a seemingly endless stream of rhymes in one breath. He also was known for his lyrical humor and ability to string together complex and tongue-twisting rhymes. "Big Pun possessed a lyrical gift of incessant breath control and a knockout punch with the rhymes," according to his biography on the Loud Records' website. While other rappers strung together rhymes about flashy riches, disrespecting women, and the violence and crime of ghetto street life, Big Pun described his style as "sophisticated hard-core," according to Jon Pareles of the New York Times. "I'm talking about everyday life," Big Pun said in an MTV interview, "losing your job, losing a loved one, stress, happiness, whatever." The rapper was hardly relating the struggles of the average working man, however. His "lyrical stance fitted the late 1990s sexual braggadocio and drugs and gun culture which attracted teenage America to the hip-hop world," according to Pierre Perrone in the London Independent.

Weight Gain Lead to Early Death

Pun's rise in hip-hop was fast and steady, and so was his weight gain. When Capital Punishment was released in 1998, he weighed in at 400 pounds. By the time of his death, just two years later, he weighed 698 pounds, and could no longer tie his own shoelaces. "He was so big and he knew his weight was causing a health problem," Fat Joe is quoted as saying at Rolling Stone online. "For a long time, even though he was a big guy, he could do whatever he wanted. He'd play sports with us and everything. But as time went on, his health got worse." Encouragement from friends and family led Pun to enter a diet program at Duke University during the summer of 1999, but he quickly regained the weight he lost there. "He really wanted to lose weight," Fat Joe told Rolling Stone online. "It was just overwhelming."

Known for his remarkable live performances, Big Pun was less and less able to get around because of his weight. "Given his size, Pun's performance is filled with suspense," critic Rob Marriot wrote in the Village Voice. The hot lights and physical activity on stage clearly tested the rapper's stamina, and audience members often wondered if he would make it through a set. Still, Marriot continued, "Big Pun even outshone the headliners." He and Fat Joe rapped together on Jennifer Lopez's hit "Feelin' So Good," and were scheduled to appear with her on Saturday Night Live on February 5, 2000, but Big Pun was unable to make it.

Big Pun, his wife, and their children were staying in a hotel in suburban White Plains, New York, in early 2000 while their Bronx home was being renovated. On February 7, he had trouble breathing and collapsed. Paramedics arrived on the scene but could not revive him, and he was pronounced dead on arrival at a local hospital. Heart failure was later determined as the cause of death.

Fame Continued After Death

If Big Pun was considered a hero of the Latin community during his short lifetime, his fans tried to elevate him to legendary status after his death. The professional mural company TATS Cru, made up of graffiti artists, painted a 35-foot-mural in the Bronx memorializing the rapper days after his death. A campaign was launched to rename a stretch of 163rd Street in the South Bronx, Big Pun Avenue. "He was a ghetto rapper; he didn't forget his people," one South Bronx grandmother told the Washington Post. "Other rappers tend to forget where they're from, but not Big Pun. With all the money that he had and everything, he still lived around here, his home was here. He's legend. This guy is going to be a legend for us."

The rapper's death was mourned by hip-hop fans and artists alike. Fans called in to radio stations and wept openly on air. "I lost a brother," Fat Joe told the Los Angeles Times. He added that hip hop "lost a great personality, a great guy who really cared about everybody. One of the best, man. Another one of us gone. Thank God it ain't no violence. But he's gone."

Big Pun's last album, Yeeeah Baby, was released a few weeks after his death, and debuted at number three on the charts. The rapper "is at his habanero hottest" on the album, wrote Matt Diehl on the Rolling Stone website, "when representing his Latino pride" on songs like "100 Percent." Hip hop and pop stars Lil' Kim, Puff Daddy, and Jennifer Lopez appeared together as a tribute to the rapper in the video for the album's first single, "It's So Hard."

Unlike Tupac Shakur, another deceased rapper, Big Pun left few recordings unreleased before his death. Nonetheless, his record label, Loud, was able to put together a handful of Big Pun performances to release on Endangered Species in 2001. The album included songs from Capital Punishment, guest appearances, and previously unreleased material. "How We Roll," the album's first single, is built around Janet Jackson's hit ballad "Let's Wait Awhile." The Beatnuts' "Off the Books" is included, featuring Big Pun's classic cameo. Songs by Kool G. Rap, Brandy, Fat Joe, and Ricky Martin appeared on Endangered Species, as well, all of them featuring the late rapper's voice. "What's most striking about Endangered Species is that it shows Pun's rejection of musical limits," critic Rashuan Hall wrote in Billboard.