Does Christopher Rios is better known as Big Punisher or Big Pun?
Christopher Rios, a 698-pound rapper who sold more than a million albums under the name Big Pun, died on Monday. He was 28. The cause was problems related to extreme obesity, said Joseph Cartagena, known as the rapper Fat Joe, who was also Mr. Rios’s producer and manager. The Associated Press reported that the final determination of the cause of death by Dr. Louis Roh, a Westchester County medical examiner, was pending. Mr. Rios, who lived in the Bronx with his wife, Liza, and his children, Christopher, Vanessa and Amanda, was staying with his family at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in White Plains, N.Y., while their home was being renovated. He suddenly had trouble breathing, and paramedics could not revive him. He was pronounced dead on arrival at a hospital. Big Pun, short for Big Punisher, was a leader among the growing ranks of Latino rappers; his family was Puerto Rican. The trademark of his style was to take a deep breath and pour out rhyme after quick-talking rhyme. His first album, ‘
Christopher Rios (November 9, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known as Big Punisher or Big Pun, was a Puerto Rican-American rapper who emerged from the underground rap scene in The Bronx in the late 1990s. He first appeared on albums from The Beatnuts on the track “Off the Books” and on Fat Joe’s second album Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E), on the track “Watch Out”, prior to signing to Loud Records as a solo artist. Big Pun’s career was cut short in 2000 at age 28 by a fatal heart attack due to his obesity. He is survived by his wife, Liza Rios, and three children. History Childhood He grew up in a Puerto Rican community in New York City’s South Bronx neighborhood. By all accounts from Pun’s family, his early years were very difficult, including witnessing his mother’s drug abuse, his father leaving the family, and a stepfather who was very hard on Pun. According to his grandmother, Pun would become angry and self-destructive, punching holes in the walls of his family’s apartment.
Christopher Rios (November 9, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known as Big Punisher or Big Pun, was a Puerto Rican-American rapper who emerged from the underground rap scene in The Bronx in the late 1990s. He first appeared on albums from The Beatnuts on the track “Off the Books” and on Fat Joe’s second album Jealous Ones Still Envy (J.O.S.E).
