Big Pun

Christopher Lee Rios † (November 10, 1971 - c. February 7, 2000 [aged 28]), better known professionally as Big Pun, was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. 
==History==
Christopher Lee Rios was born on November 10, 1971, in The South Bronx in New York City to parents of Puerto Rican descent. He grew up in the Soundview neighborhood and had two sisters and one brother. He regularly played basketball and trained in boxing. https://web.archive.org/web/20171201132133/https://massappeal.com/big-pun-widow-liza-rios-speaks-life-death-legacy/
He moved out of his mother's house at age 15 and was homeless for a brief period of time in the late 1980s. Later, he received a large settlement from the city, stemming from an incident in 1976, where Rios broke his leg while playing in a park. Using his settlement money, Rios married a girl he met in high school, Liza, and the two moved into a home together. https://web.archive.org/web/20120425081044/http://deadpoetz.com/dead-rappers/rappers/big-pun.html
Rios struggled with depression stemming from his turbulent childhood, and he coped with it by overeating. At age 18. Rios weighed 180 pounds, and three years later, increased to 300 pounds. Because of his big gain, he was unable to tie his own shoes.https://www.uproxx.com/music/life-and-death-big-pun/
During the late 1980s, he began writing rap lyrics. He later formed the underground group Full-A-Clips with Lyrical Assassin, Joker Jamz, and Toom. Rios made a number of recordings with the group in the 1990's, which have not been released. At this point, Rios was operating under the alias Big Moon Dawg. https://books.google.com/books?id=qE-LBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA332 After changing his stage name to Big Punisher, Rios met fellow rapper Fat Joe in 1995 and made his commercial debut on Fat Joe's second album, Jealous One's Envy, in addition to appearing on the song, "Watch Out". https://www.discogs.com/release/609624-Fat-Joe-Jealous-Ones-Envy He also appeared in The Beatnuts' song "Off the Books". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FG4302AjcE
In 1997, Big Pun began recording songs for his debut album 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 and titled "Still Not a Player", became Big Pun's first major mainstream hit and major breakthrough for Knobody. https://web.archive.org/web/20120217105316/http://www.hitquarters.com/index.php3?page=intrview/opar/intrview_JeromeFoster.html The full-length debut Capital Punishment followed in 1998, and became the first album by a solo Hispanic rapper to go platinum. https://web.archive.org/web/20150924151606/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1
Big Pun became a member of 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 who released their debut album The Album in 1999. https://www.discogs.com/release/381345-Terror-Squad-The-Album 
==Death==
On February 5, 2000, Rios withdrew from a planned Saturday Night Live performance with Fat Joe and Jennifer Lopez due to illness. Two days later, while staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel with his family in White Plains, New York, he suffered from a heart attack and respiratory failure and was rushed to White Plains Hospital, where he died at the age of 28 after paramedics were unable to revive him. https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/09/arts/christopher-rios-28-rapper-recorded-under-name-big-pun.html
===Legacy===
On May 2, 2001, the New York City Council stalled plans to rename a small portion of Rogers Place as a tribute, due to distaste over Big Pun's lyrics that "include[d] profanity and references to violence and drug dealing". https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/03/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-bronx-no-street-for-big-pun.html
In 2002, a documentary about Big Pun, entitled Big Pun: Still Not a Player was released, which revealed that he was homeless as an adolescent and abused as a child. https://web.archive.org/web/20220830024556/https://www.mtv.com/news/d20j53/big-pun-documentary-shows-other-side-of-late-rapper
On March 22, 2021, the intersection of East Fordham Rd and Grand Concourse in his native Bronx was named "Big Pun Plaza" in Pun's honor. A ceremony including family, friends, and local politicians preceded the street naming. https://pitchfork.com/news/big-pun-honored-with-bronx-street-corner/
==Discography==
===Albums===
*Capital Punishment (1998)
*Yeeeah Baby (2000)
===Compilation Albums===
*Endangered Species (2001)
*The Legacy: The Best of Big Pun (2009)
== Filmography ==
* Moesha (1998)
* Thicker Than Water (1999)
* Urban Menace (1999)
* Whiteboyz (1999)
* Boricua's Bond (2000)
* Big Pun: Still Not a Player (2002)
* Big Pun Live (2002)
* Rap Sheet: Hip-Hop and the Cops (2007)
* Big Pun: The Legacy (2008)
* Big Pun's Legacy: The Lost Files (2010)
==References==
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Category:Deceased YouTubers