Big Punisher

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Big Punisher , also Big Pun (born November 9, 1971 in the Bronx , New York , † February 7, 2000 in White Plains , New York ; real life Christopher Lee Rios ), was an American rapper and occasional actor of Puerto Rican descent . He is considered one of the main characters of East Coast hip-hop and one of the most successful artists of his genre in terms of sales. Punisher is widely considered to be one of the best technicians in American hip hop. He was voted number 25 of the "50 Greatest MCs (1987-2007)" by about.com and number 19 of the "50 Greatest Lyricists of All Time" by The Source .

Earlier life

Rios was born in November 1971 in the Bronx, New York City to Puerto Rican parents. He grew up in the South Bronx. Rios' youth was quite difficult as his father died early and his mother's drug problem caused him to move in with his grandmother when he was thirteen. Having had major problems and even violent arguments with his grandparents, he moved out at the age of fifteen and instead slept with friends or in vacant apartments. He dropped out of high school a year later . At the age of 16, Rios survived as a casual boxer and drug dealer before starting his rap career.

Musical career

Beginnings

In the early 1990s Rios began to write his own rap lyrics under the name "Big Moon Dawg" before founding the rap group "Full-A-Clips" in 1993 with "Triple Seis" and Cuban Link (then Lyrical Assassin). In 1995 Rios, who had already renamed himself "Big Punisher", met the then unknown Joseph Cartegena aka Fat Joe . He had already released an album, which was commercially a flop and received little attention outside of the Bronx. Shortly thereafter, they both recorded the song "Watch Out" for Fat Joe's second album "Jealous One's Envy" , which is also Rios' first recorded song. In 1996 Rios recorded the song "I'm Not a Player" , which was played shortly after by the British condom brand Durex as a background in one of their advertisements and therefore became an underground hit with number 98 on the Billboard Hot 100 .

Contract with Loud Records and debut album

In 1997, producer Sean C. became aware of Rios, whereupon he played a few songs by Jerome Foster, the producer and chairman of Loud Records . He was enthusiastic about Rios and invited him to his studio to record a song with him. The result was the song "Still Not a Player" , an homage to "I'm Not a Player" , which made it to number 24 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Rios known worldwide. Shortly after the single was released, "I'm Not a Player" was able to enter the charts again and at the end of 1997 reached its top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 57 . Shortly thereafter, Rios and his rap partner Fat Joe were signed to "Loud Records" .

On April 28, 1998 his debut album " Capital Punishment " was finally released. The album includes guest appearances from Fat Joe, Black Thought, Cuban Link, Triple Leis, and Armageddon, and went platinum for over a million units sold. Thus, Rios is the first Latino rapper who could go platinum with an album. The album reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100 . The album was also largely positively received by critics and is now considered a classic of East Coast hip-hop .

Shortly thereafter, Rios joined the hip-hop group Terror Squad , which was founded a few months earlier by Fat Joe. Together, the group released the album "The Album" in 1999 , which went to # 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 . So the album was not a commercial success, but it was received positively by various critics and represented a springboard for their solo career for many of the "Terror Squad" artists of the time. Especially for the album, Rios was already one at the time of the leaders in the rap business, waived any promo, which explains the relatively small sales figures. The album is the only "Terror Squad" album with his involvement due to Rios' death.

In 1999, Rios officially began work on his second solo album, " Yeeeah Baby, " which was released posthumously two months after his death.

death

Rios has suffered from a metabolic disease since childhood, which is why he often had problems with his obesity as an adult. Fat Joe later said in an interview that shortly before his death, Rios took a weight loss course in North Carolina that reportedly shed 36 kilograms. Due to the exertion he was not used to, he is said to have stopped this and put on his old weight again.

On February 7, 2000, Rios was with his wife and three children at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains as their home was being renovated. There Rios got a heart attack , whereupon he was admitted to a New York hospital and died there that evening. The exact time of his death is unknown. At the time of his death, Rios weighed 698 pounds (317 kilograms).

son

His youngest son Christopher Lee Rios Jr. (* 1993) began a professional rap career at the age of 18, initially using the stage name Baby Pun . He has already released several albums and EPs since 2013, and has also been a frequent feature guest, for example at the Wu-Tang Clan , Canibus or Styles P ( The Lox ). He has since changed his stage name to Chris Rivers . In his freestyles in particular, he uses a rap style similar to that of his father. He also mentions this from time to time in his tracks (such as Sincerly Me ).

Posthumous publication

Second solo album

In April 2000, Rios' second and final official solo album was released under the name " Yeeeah Baby " . It includes guest appearances from Tony Sunshine, Fat Joe, Prospect, Cuban Link, MOP , Sunkiss, Remy Ma , Donell Jones, and Drag-On . In addition, with number three in the Billboard Hot 100, it is Rios' highest chart position. "It's so hard" and "100%" were released as singles (the first in collaboration with Donell Jones and the second in collaboration with Tony Sunshine).

Posthumous publications with archival material

On April 3, 2001, the best-of album " Endangered Species " was published posthumously , which contains not only known song material but also previously unreleased recordings by Rios. The album features guest appearances from Fat Joe, Ashanti , Cuban Link, Cam'ron, etc.

In 2004, more archive recordings from Rios were used on the second "Terror Squad" album called "True Story" , before Fat Joe announced in an interview in 2005 that this was the last album with archive recordings from Big Punisher.

In 2009 the documentary "Big Pun: The Legacy" was released , for which a best-of album was released. " The Legacy: The Best of Big Pun " is to this day (as of 2019) the last release under his name.

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE CH CH UK UK US US
1998 Capital Punishment - - - US5
platinum
platinum

(28 weeks)US
First published: April 28, 1998
Sales: + 1,050,000
2000 Yeeeah baby DE80 (1 week)
DE 		- - US3
platinum
platinum

(23 weeks)US
First published: April 4, 2000
Sales: + 1,000,000

Compilations

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE CH CH UK UK US US
2001 Endangered Species - - - US7 (9 weeks)
US
First published: April 3, 2001
2009 The Legacy: The Best of Big Pun - - - -
First published: September 18, 2009

Collab albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE CH CH UK UK US US
1999 The album - - - US22 (8 weeks)
US
First published: September 21, 1999
with Terror Squad

Singles

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE CH CH UK UK US US
1997 Off the Books
Stone Crazy 		- - - US86 (3 weeks)
US
First release: September 16, 1997
The Beatnuts feat. Big Pun and Cuban Link
I'm Not a Player
Capital Punishment 		- - - US57 (20 weeks)
US
First published: October 14, 1997
1998 Still Not a Player
Capital Punishment 		- - UK86 (2 weeks)
UK 		US24 (23 weeks)
US
First published: March 28, 1998
feat. Joe
You Came Up
Capital Punishment 		- - - -
First published: August 22, 1998
feat. Noreaga
2000 It's so hard
yeeeah baby 		- - - US75 (15 weeks)
US
First published: March 7, 2000
feat. Donell Jones
100%
yeeeah baby 		- - - -
First release: May 5th, 2000
feat. Tony Sunshine
Feelin 'So Good
On the 6th 		DE39 (9 weeks)
DE 		CH22 (10 weeks)
CH 		UK15 (6 weeks)
UK 		US51 (17 weeks)
US
First published: October 25, 2000
Jennifer Lopez feat. Big Pun and Fat Joe
2001 How We Roll
Endangered Species 		- - - -
First published: January 19, 2001
feat. Ashanti

Filmography

  • 1998: Moesha (as himself)
  • 1999: Thicker than Water (as Punny)
  • 1999: Urban Menace (as Crow)
  • 1999: Whiteboyz (as Don Flip)
  • 2000: Boricua's Bond (as himself)
  • 2002: Still Not A Player (Documentation: archive recordings)
  • 2002: Big Pun: Live (archive footage)
  • 2009: Big Pun: The Legacy (Documentation: archive footage)

Awards for music sales

Golden record

  • CanadaCanada Canada
    • 1998: for the album Capital Punishment

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region Gold record icon.svg gold Platinum record icon.svg platinum Sales swell
Awards for music sales
(country / region, awards, sales, sources)
Canada (MC) Canada (MC) Gold record icon.svg gold1 0! P- 50,000 musiccanada.com
United States (RIAA) United States (RIAA) 0! G- Platinum record icon.svg 2 × platinum2 2,000,000 riaa.com
All in all Gold record icon.svg gold1 Platinum record icon.svg 2 × platinum2

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ About.com The 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time. Page 7
  2. ↑ thisis50.com The Source: Top 50 Lyricists of All Time. Complete list ( memento of the original dated December 31, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thisis50.com
  3. ^ Google Books. Vibe: August 1998
  4. ↑ allmusic.com Big Punisher Biography
  5. ↑ Big Punisher: The Legacy on YouTube
  6. ↑ allmusic.com Big Punisher Biography
  7. ↑ Interview with Jerome Foster on hitquarters.com
  8. ↑ Interview with Jerome Foster on hitquarters.com
  9. ↑ Big Punisher chart positions and gold / platinum awards on riaa.com
  10. ↑ Classic American Hip-Hop Albums: Capital Punishment
  11. ↑ History and sales of "The Album" on mtv.com
  12. ↑ allmusic.com Big Punisher Biography
  13. ↑ Reporting on Rios' death on Monday, April 7th. February 2000 on nytimes.com
  14. ↑ Antonio Ontoneyo Valenzuela: [Interview] Chris Rivers Opens Up About Life Without His Legendary Rap Father and Developing His Own Career. The Source , January 22, 2016, accessed November 20, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Chris Rivers - Discography - Discogs. discogs.com, accessed December 31, 2019 .
  16. ↑ Vibe Staff: Premiere: Chris Rivers Speaks To Late Father Big Pun On 'Sincerely Me'. Vibe , June 6, 2019, accessed December 31, 2019 .
  17. ↑ Big Punisher chart positions and gold / platinum awards on riaa.com
  18. ↑ a b c d Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US

Web links

Big Punisher albums


Studio albums

Capital Punishment • Yeeeah baby

Compilation albums

Endangered Species • The Legacy: The Best of Big Pun

Splits

The album

personal data
SURNAME Big Punisher
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rios, Christoph Lee (maiden name); Big Pun (pseudonym)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American rapper
DATE OF BIRTH November 9, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH February 7, 2000
Place of death White Plains , New York