You didn’t think that the day was going go by without the 7th Boro paying homage to the great one did you? 20 years ago today the hip hop gods blessed us with one of the greatest albums of all time. Chris Rios aka Big Pun aka Big Punisher aka the one and only son of Tony Montana gave us one of the illest lyrical performances imaginable. This album was flawless front to back and is the only time I’ve ever heard Black Thought get out rhymed.
When I first heard Pun on the Soul In The Hole soundtrack I had no idea he was Puerto Rican. Borinquens were not rhyming like this back then. He was a combination of Rakim, Kool G Rap, and of course Eddie Murphy (cause he’s a funny mother fuc***). He was also the first Puerto Rican to have a platinum Hip Hop record. The first time I heard Capital Punishment was with my friend Herbert Rodriguez (RIP) and I was blown away. The intro lead up to “Beware”, a track produced by the Beatnuts (Juju) and was the perfect lead up to what was to come.
The next track was produced by the Rockwilder and featured Black Thought. It had a sample of Ivan Drago from Rocky. This was so dope.
Like I stated earlier, I feel like Pun out rhymed Black Thought on this one.
Then came “Dream Shatterer”…..Good lord this track was dope. Domingo threw the alley oop and PUN went up like the Fat Jordan logo and crushed the rim. Then there was “Still Not a Player, You Came Up, and Tres leches. All classics. This album still gets heavy rotation two decades later. RIP PUN. Salute to the Rios Family.
