Big Pun

He was an Puerto Rican rapper and songwriter. Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx borough of New York City in the early 1990s, he came to prominence during the latter half of the decade for his work with Fat Joe and the Terror Squad.

Big Pun was initially discovered by Fat Joe, and made his earliest appearance on Fat Joe’s 1995 album Jealous One’s Envy. In 1997, he signed with Loud Records as a solo artist, and released his Grammy-nominated debut studio album Capital Punishment in April 1998 to critical acclaim and commercial success, peaking at #5 on the Billboard 200 and becoming the first solo hip hop record by a Latino artist to go Platinum.

Rios struggled with weight issues his entire adult life. He weighed 180 pounds at age 18, which increased to 300 pounds at 21 His weight fluctuated in the early 1990s between obese and morbidly obese Rios enrolled in a weight-loss program at Duke University in 1999, and shed 80 pounds, but he prematurely quit the program and eventually regained the weight. His weight was a constant topic of argument among him and his friends to the point that Rios would not eat around them

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 a hotel with his family in White Plains, New York, he suffered a heart attack and respiratory failure and was taken to a hospital, where he died at the age of 28 after paramedics were unable to revive him. His weight had reached a peak of 698 pounds at the time of his death.

Big Pun’s second album, Yeeeah Baby, completed after his death, was released in April 2000. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard charts and earned gold record status within three months of its release. A posthumous compilation album, Endangered Species, was released in April 2001. Endangered Species collected some of Pun’s greatest hits, previously unreleased material, numerous guest appearances, and remixed “greatest verses.” As with his other albums, it also peaked in the top ten of the Billboard 200, reaching No. 7. 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.^[19]