on stage his rhymes punished him but offstage he struggled to deal with his traumatic childhood
be a good husband and keep his weight under control sadly it would be that last battle that
would ultimately take big pun's life and deprive the music world of a very gifted young artist
rapper and songwriter christopher lee rios better known by his stage name big pun
short for big punisher was born in the bronx new york to parents of puerto rican descend in the
beginning pun's home life was pretty normal that is until his parents divorced as a result of his
father's infidelity when his mother ventured back onto the dating scene she would begin
experimenting with drugs after meeting the man who would become her second husband she stopped
yet about two years into the marriage she not only discovered that he was hooked on heroin
but she started using again herself pun's stepfather was also extremely abusive over
time pun developed a terrible temper and perhaps to cope with living in such a volatile environment
he would punch holes in the walls at home and eat the broken materials inside
at the age of 15 he would find the love and support he was craving at home
at school when he met his first love 14 year old liza also in his early teens he would delve deep
into the street life and begin selling drugs his luck would run out with an arrest and a night in
jail the experience profoundly changed him and he promised his grandmother who was devastated about
what happened that she would never have to worry about him getting locked up again it was at that
moment that he decided he was done selling drugs typically a decision like that would make any
parent relieved not pun's mother she didn't like the fact that he wanted to quit his street hustle
and kicked him out of the house he then also dropped out of school for several years pun
remained essentially homeless bouncing around from one house to another staying wherever he could
lay his head for the night and get a meal he and liza would ultimately part ways around this time
she ended up moving to long island to live with her father at the insistence of her
family that wanted to keep them separated after discovering how hot and heavy they were getting
pun went down to florida for a short time then just before pun was due to turn 18
he and liza reconnected he was determined to never let her go again and begged his
grandmother who was moving to florida and wanted him to come back with her to let him
stay in new york she eventually relented pun's hard knock life came to an abrupt end when he
got in contact with his family's lawyer whom he'd known all his life to ask for some financial help
the lawyer couldn't have been happier to hear from pun since he'd already been trying to contact him
he had great news a settlement from the city stemming from an accident pun had
in a playground around the age of five where he suffered a broken ankle had finally come through
at the age of 18 christopher was now five hundred thousand dollars richer
by this time liza had become pregnant so pun wasted no time getting his life in order
which was now much easier to do with this new windfall he got his own apartment some fancy
clothes and married his high school sweetheart during the late 80s pun began writing rap lyrics
he'd always been rapping as a young child but now it was time to take things more seriously he would
form an underground group called full eclipse with fellow neighborhood rappers cuban link triple says
and prospect he would go by the name big moon dog the group did make a number of recordings
but they were never released also at this moment christopher's weight was beginning to get out of
control possibly to cope with his difficult upbringing he started overeating between
the ages of 18 and 21 his weight ballooned to 300 pounds after changing his name to big punisher he
met rapper and fellow new eurekan from the bronx fat joe in 1995. joe just happened to be inside
of bodega getting his diet pepsi fix when he came out and heard some ill verses coming from a dude
that looked a lot like him freestyling right there on the street joe knew this guy was someone
special he called pun over the very next day to get on the album he was just finishing up before
pun knew it he was making his commercial debut on fat joe's second album jealous one's envy but what
about full eclipse pun was still doing his thing with them but joe was really only interested in
focusing on launching pun's career the group wasn't totally left out in the cold though joe
made sure to get them in as many music videos as possible and bring them around while he and pawn
worked so they could soak up the atmosphere the idea was that once pun got established
he'd then bring his crew on board pun's first major mainstream hit a remix song featuring joe
called still not a player burst onto the music scene in march 1998. it reached the number 24
position on the billboard hot 100 number 13 on the rap chart and number six on the r b hip-hop chart
his debut album titled capital punishment dropped the following month and became the first album by
a solo latino rapper to go platinum it was also nominated for a grammy award for best rap album
now it was finally time for pun to put his boys on like he said he would pun plus most of the roster
from the now defunct full eclipse became members of the latino hip-hop collective terror squad
founded by fat joe pun's weight and eating habits continued to be sources of numerous arguments
between the rapper and his friends it got to a point where he didn't even like to eat in front of
them anymore liza told massapeel.com in 2015 he's an emotional eater if he gets angry or he's happy
everything is connected with food it's like the drug of choice like you know how people go
through survival experiences with crack cocaine or crystal meth or hardcore drugs alcoholics
and when you dig into their life and it's because something happened when they were a child
either they've got mommy issues or daddy issues something so his drug of choice was food it was
literally like a drug like he was a drug addict in an attempt to get his weight under control
pun enrolled in a weight loss program at duke university in 1999 and shed 100 pounds
unfortunately he ended up quitting the program early and quickly regained the weight
later that year terror squad released their debut album terror squad the album in 1999
and achieved success with the track what you're going to do credited mostly to pun
on february 5th 2000 pun withdrew from a planned performance on saturday night live
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 while their home was being renovated he suffered a heart
attack and respiratory failure before being rushed to a hospital he died shortly after
arrival when paramedics were unable to revive him christopher big panrios
was 28 years old the deputy medical examiner report revealed that he weighed 698 pounds
and his heart was three times the normal size he is survived by his wife liza and their three
children pun's second album yeah baby completed after his death was released in april 2000.
it peaked at number three on the billboard charts and went gold within a few months of its release
one year later a posthumous compilation album titled endangered species dropped it included
some of pun's greatest hits previously unreleased material and numerous guest appearances two years
after pun's death his widow liza produced a documentary about his life and career she also
spoke openly in the film about her experience as a battered wife she admitted that her life with
pun was full of more bad times than good and that he was physically abusive throughout their entire
marriage actually the mistreatment started before that she recalled that she had a black eye the day
they went to get their marriage license many of the material trappings that he bestowed upon her
were as she says gil gives to make up for his bad behavior even though pun would deny ever putting
his hands on his wife in that same documentary there is indisputable evidence of him doing
just that liza calls the day pun died the worst and best day of her life because even though she
lost her husband and the father of her children she was finally free from the mental and physical
torture he put her through another unfortunate circumstance is that from the moment pun passed
liza was forced to embark on a life of struggle once again getting access to any past due moneys
or royalties would prove to be a very difficult task she was forced to sell the home they shared
for whatever she could get instead of letting it go into foreclosure there was even a time when
they became homeless and had to go to a shelter in 2005 she also had to resort to putting her
husband's 100 thousand dollar custom terror squad medallion up for auction on ebay the assumption
of many that the surviving spouse of a successful recording artist will be set for life financially
because of all the millions of dollars the star likely made throughout their career
is very much false for years liza's been fighting to get the money that she feels is owed to her
and puns children as of 2015 she reported getting payments from the american society of composers
authors and publishers or ascap as well as digital royalty checks on march 22nd 2021 the intersection
of east fordham road and grand concourse in his native bronx was named big pun plaza
in his honor pun's wife and children as well as many other friends and fans were in attendance
one person that was noticeably absent however was fat joe without naming anyone specifically
joe summed up the answer to why he wasn't there in a five-minute video that can be viewed on youtube
i'm not standing beside nobody talking about yo let's do it for pun no i'm not when you slander
me and you slander word and make me look crazy for two decades in the hood i cannot stand next to you
i'm never standing next to you since pun's death liza and joe have been at odds with one another
over pawn and joe's business dealings on an episode of the drink champs podcast in may 2021
joe declared that he doesn't have control over anything related to pawn
having turned everything over to his family and that he makes no money off the deceased rapper
on the surface the move may have seemed selfless but according to a press release
it wasn't a voluntary act and happened as a result of a lawsuit filed against him that september liza
and joe went at it on instagram after an outlet posted a clip of nori claiming to have seen
pun's actual contract with joe according to him the contract was standard for new artists
thus vindicating joe against liza's allegations that he robbed his friend and artist of royalties
liza accused joe of still owing her and her children millions even though she already won a
settlement in 2016 stemming from that lawsuit that was previously mentioned which she'd filed against
him and their publisher two years prior while the terms of the settlement remain confidential the
sum is speculated to be a little more than two million dollars joe then fired back that liza
did receive some money right after pun passed but she chose to spend it on her documentary
things then took an interesting turn when a random commenter chimed in to say that
liza didn't deserve any money since she had cheated on pawn and with his brother no less
liza replied back admitting that she was unfaithful but it wasn't with pun's brother
that he knew about the indiscretion and that pun himself was also guilty of multiple affairs
in his short time on earth big pun made a tremendous impact in the world of hip-hop
while also opening the doors for many up-and-coming latino artists in the genre
no doubt his family will see to it that his memory is kept alive for many years to
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