Big Pun

Met with critical acclaim and commercial success, the album earned a nomination for Best Rap Album at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards, peaked at number five on the Billboard 200, and became the first hip hop recording by a Latino solo act to receive platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Christopher Lee Rios (November 10, 1971 – February 7, 2000), better known by his stage name Big Pun (short for Big Punisher), was an American rapper.

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 his high school sweetheart, Liza, and the two moved into a home together.

Rios struggled with depression stemming from his turbulent childhood, and he coped with it by overeating.

Between the ages of 18 and 21, Rios' weight rocketed from 180 lb to 300 lb; he was subsequently unable to tie his own shoes.

He moved out of his mother's house at age 15 and was homeless for a period of time in the late 1980s.

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 1990s, which have not been released.

At this point Rios was operating under the alias Big Moon Dawg.

His weight fluctuated in the early 1990s between obese and morbidly obese.

Emerging from the underground hip hop scene in the Bronx, he came to prominence upon discovery by fellow Bronx rapper Fat Joe, and thereafter guest appeared on his 1995 album Jealous One's Envy.

After changing his stage name to Big Punisher, Rios met fellow Puerto Rican and Bronx 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".

He also appeared on The Beatnuts' song "Off the Books".

Big Pun signed with Fat Joe's label, Terror Squad Productions and Loud Records in 1997 to release his debut studio album, Capital Punishment (1998) the following year.

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.

The full-length debut Capital Punishment followed in 1998, and became the first album by a solo Latino rapper to go platinum, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard 200.

Capital Punishment was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.

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.

The album did not fare well commercially but it was well received critically and the album was meant to start the foundation for all other Terror Squad members to release their solo projects.

Rios struggled with weight issues his entire adult life.

He weighed 180 lb at age 18, which increased to 300 lb at 21.

Rios enrolled in a weight-loss program at Duke University in 1999, and shed 80 lb, 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.

His second album, Yeeeah Baby (2000) peaked at number three on the Billboard 200, although Pun died shortly before its release.

Rios was born in The South Bronx in New York City to parents of Puerto Rican descent.

He grew up in the Soundview neighborhood and had at least two sisters and one brother.

He regularly played basketball and trained in boxing.

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 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.

His weight had reached a peak of 698 lb at the time of his death.

Rios was survived by his wife, Liza, and their three children, Star, Vanessa and Christopher Jr.

Rios is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery near

Woodlawn Heights, Bronx.

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.