Big Pun was a known American rapper coming from the Bronx who became famous for his work with Terror squad and Fat Joe. The whole gang was pretty famous because of YouTube and soundcloud stuff.
He died at the early age of 28 after suffering a heart attack. This was a massive message for the whole industry and a very tough thing for his fans to go through, but they saw it coming because he lived a very unhealthy life.
He was frequently called Big Punisher and Big Moon Dawg.
Although it has been many years since he passed away he is still remembered for his great artistry and rapping skills.
Early years
He was born as Christopher Lee Rios on November 10, 1971, in the part of New York called The South Bronx, in the United States. He said that Bronx is a really interesting part of The Big Apple, but many dangerous things are happening there often.
He was born into a Puerto Rican family who struggled for a better life. Those struggles have made an impact on his childhood and his later life too.
He had a brother and a sister but they weren’t very close. They all had troubled childhoods since their mother struggled with her drug addiction and their father often abused them.
This left a giant mark in Christopher’s heart which later led to his overeating disorder and using food to heal his emotions. He said that many people judge him because of his weight, but they do not know his true story and therefore are not eligible to say all of these mean things about him.
He has spent his childhood in the South Bronx alongside his sisters and brothers.
As a kid, he was a big fan of basketball and he also liked boxing. He trained both of these sports for some time.
Due to his bad relationship with his parents, he decided to move out of the house and even live on the streets as a homeless person for a while. This was also very hard for him to live through and he said that he probably would have ended up much better being with his parents, but it was not a choice at that time since their relationship was complicated.
He later stated that it was very reckless of him and that he should have been smarter than that.
In 1976, he was involved in an accident in which a little 5-year-old kid broke one of his legs which eventually lex Christopher to a huge settlement by the city.
Career development
Riod got interested in rapping at the late 80s and created a hip hop group named “Full-A-Clips” together with 3 more rappers: Joker Jamz, Toom and Lyrical Assasin.
They recorded a lot of traps but none of them weren’t released. In this period of his career, he had a stage name Big Moon Dawg.
After a while, he changed his name to Bug Pun or Big Punisher and he started collaborating with another rapper from the Bronx called Fat Joe.
It was in 1995 that he appeared as a guest on “Jealous One’s Envy”, which was the 2nd album released by Fat Joe.
He appeared on his single “Watch Out”. He was also featured on the single “Off the Books” by the Beatnuts.
His first single was titled “I’m Not a Player” and it was produced by Minnesota. The song was a big success and entered No. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 list.
His first studio album was named “Capital Punishment” and was released in April 1998. Unfortunately, it was his only album released while he was still alive.
The album gained much attention and went to No. 1 on Top R&B Albums. The album was also nominated for a Grammy, at 1999 Grammy awards, in the category of the Best Rap Album.
Big Pun hired a producer Knobody to make a remix of his song “I’m Not a Player”. The song was a huge hit and became a breakthrough song both for Knobody and Big Pun.
Big Oun became the first Latino rapper to reach platinum sales. In 1999 he became a member of a hip hop group named Terror Squad. It was a group if New York City rappers created by his friend Fat Joe.
They have released their debut album in September 1999 titled “The Album”. The album received good critics but wasn’t very successful commercially.
But the album was a good start for its members who used it’s a success to start their own solo musical career.
In February 2000 Rios was scheduled for a live performance with Fat Joe and J.Lo in a known NBC late-night show “Saturday Night Live”.
He never came to the show because of his illness. He suffered a heart attack two days later and was taken to a hospital.
Unfortunately, the paramedics couldn’t revive him and he died very young: he was only 28 years old.
He was morbidly obese at that time weighing 317 kgs. He left his wife Liza and their kids, one of them bearing his name, Christopher Jr.
A lot of Big Pun’s work was released posthumously. His 2nd album titled “Yeeeah Baby” was released in 2000 and it went to No 3 on the Billboard charts.
It was certified gold by RIAA after only 3 months passed after the release.
In April 2001, his label Loud Records has released a posthumous compilation album produced by Fat Jie and Sean C.
The money earned by this album was given to his widow Liza and their 3 kids. Their album went to No.7.
Liza Rios stated that she has received a very small check for it and soon after she has put her husband’s medallion in the auction. She gained a lot over $100 000 how much the medallion was worth.
Terror Squad has released their 2nd album in 2004 and it was titled “True Story”.
They featured Pun on one of the tracks on the album. In 2009, a documentary about the late rapper was released under the name “Big Pun: The Legacy”
Personal life
After he received the money from the settlement he got married to Liza.
Liza was his girlfriend from high school and they started living together very soon.
Rios became very depressed u that period, fighting battles from his childhood with a lot of scars to heal.
He didn’t know how to cope with his illness and never asked for any psychiatric helo so he tried to heal his pain and depression with food.
He soon started overeating and when he reached the age of 18 he was already 82 kgs but he managed to almost double his weight in the following three years. After being just obese he became morbidly obese.
Rios wanted to lose weight and helo himself so he decided to join a weight-loss program which was held at Duke University.
He has lost almost 40 kgs there but couldn’t handle the pressure and the hunger so he eventually left the program willingly. This turned out to be a wrong decision for Big Pun because it may have had his life saved.
His wife and his friends tried to persuade him to take care of himself but it was a lost cause. In the end, he stopped eating in front of his friend but compensated it at home or when he was alone in the restaurant.
Big Pun had three children: Chris, Vanessa, and Amanda.
Chris, who is the youngest child, is a rapper today just like his father. He loved his father but has shocked his fans by revealing that his father Big Pun often abused his mother and that he found himself in the position to protect her just like Big Pun did in his childhood.
He says that his father had many unsolved issues and didn’t want to speak about the notorious video that circles online for years. It is a video of his father Big pun showing off his dark abusive side.
Big Pun’s oldest daughter Amanda has her own business and she is known as Star View. She has her own eyelash line and her business is evolving well.
His second daughter Vanessa is starting her own music career too. Her video of singing to a song by Adele is highly seen on Youtube.
His wife Liza is struggling with asthma and with financial problems during the years.
She even lost their home because he didn’t pay the mortgage but people resent her that because she received almost $300 k of money earned by Big Pun’s posthumous music.
But in 2014 Lisa has filed a lawsuit against Fat Joe and other involved for an amount of $2 million of unpaid revenues from everything that was released after Big Pun’s death.
Two years later, both sides have agreed about the settlement and the case was moved away from court.
Quick summary
Full name: Christopher Lee Rios
Date of birth: November 10, 1971
Birthplace: New York, United States
Age: 48
Profession: rapper
Height: 1,75 m
Weight: 312 kgs
Net Worth: $2 million