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It's been 25 years since Hip-Hop lost one of the most notable voices in the game.
On February 7, 2000, Christopher Rios a.k.a. Big Pun passed away after he suffered from a heart attack and respiratory failure while staying at a hotel in White Plains, N.Y. He was rushed to White Plains Hospital where he was declared dead after paramedics failed to revive him. Before his death, Pun experienced issues with his weight throughout most of his adult life. He weighed 698 pounds when he passed away. He was only 28. The rap passed just two months before his second album Yeeeah Baby was posthumously released.
Born in the South Bronx, Rios got his start in the music industry in the late 1980s rapping under the stage name Big Moon Dawg with the group Full-A-Clips. After he changed his rap name to Big Punisher, Rios met Fat Joe and made his grand debut on "Watch Out" from Joe's 1995 LP Jealous One's Envy. He also hopped on The Beatnuts' classic hit "Off The Books" in 1997. That same year, Pun began recording his debut album Capital Punishment, which dropped in 1998.
Capital Punishment arrived via Loud Records, RCA Records and Fat Joe’s Terror Squad Productions. His 24-track album featured a handful of unforgettable bangers from The Bronx native including “Beware,” “You Ain’t A Killer,” “Super Lyrical” featuring Black Thought, “Twinz (Deep Cover 98)” featuring Fat Joe and, of course, “Still Not A Player” featuring Joe. The album also holds other rare collaborations with Wyclef Jean, Dead Prez, N.O.R.E., Prodigy, Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck, Busta Rhymes and more.
Big Pun's debut was the final album he released during his lifetime. Since then, his second LP, which features hits like "100%" with Tony Sunshine and "It's So Hard" with Donell Jones, debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart and eventually went platinum. His influence is still felt over two decades later as numerous Puerto Rican artists from New York and the island have cited him as an inspiration.
Rest in peace, Big Pun. Relive some of his best videos below.