Christopher Lee Carlos 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.

During the 1980s, he formed the Full a Clips Crew with Triple Seis (rapper), Prospect 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 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.”

Big Punisher’s debut album Capital Punishment and the single “Still Not a Player” were big hits in 1998, making him the first solo Latin rapper ever to go platinum. He later joined other Latin rappers in the group Terror Squad, which released a self-titled album in 1999. Big Punisher was also yet another member of the hip-hop community to fall victim to an early death — though in his case, it was due to health problems, not violence. In contrast to his large frame, Big Pun was a surprisingly graceful and nimble rapper, delivering his often clever, tongue-twisting rhymes at a torrential pace.

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, 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.

Rest in peace Big Pun, you always be remembered through your music!

Check out Big Pun’s “Still Not a Player”.

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