Big Punisher - Capital Punishment (April 28, 1998)

Christopher Rios, known to the hip hop community as Big Punisher, known to his mother as Christopher Rios, was a Puerto Rican rapper from the Bronx that did everything he could to boost the status of Latinos in the rap game before his passing in 2001, which is why I get so angry when I hear Fat Joe ruining things for everyone on the radio with that "Make It Rain" bullshit. Joe actually discovered Big Pun and inserted him onto his own album, Jealous One's Envy, before getting him a deal of his own, with the mighty Loud Records, home of Mobb Deep, Wu-Tang, and Megadeth (seriously).

The debut, Capital Punishment, was the only album released while Pun was still alive. (I didn't realize this until I researched the release date.) Buoyed by the mainstream success of the second single "Still Not A Player" (I can still recall a time when the video was played on MTV all the damn time, and it was always mislabeled as "Still Not A Player Featuring Joe"), Big Pun became the first Latino rapper to hit platinum, back in a time when album sales were still a valid measurement of how many copies were obtained by the listening public. Pun threw everything he had into his debut, including songs for the ladies, for the gangstas who lean back in the clubs instead of admitting they like to dance (jazz hands!), for East Coast freaks, for West Coast fiends, and I'm sure even my grandmother liked a couple of songs off of it as well. (She's very liberal that way.)

It's widely considered to be a hip hop classic, but we all know that doesn't mean shit to me. This was one of those CDs that I ran out to purchase the day it was released, but I don't remember even liking the singles that were on the radio at the time. Must have been a slow week for hip hop, I guess.

1. INTRO
The next rap album that doesn't feature a rap album intro may get an automatic "Buy".

2. BEWARE
Beatnuts production, and a Prodigy vocal sample from a Mobb Deep track that more than half of their own fans have never heard? (That would be "Shook Ones", the original version, by the way.) Not a bad way to start off.

3. SUPER LYRICAL (FEAT BLACK THOUGHT)
Black Thought (from The Roots) is one of my favorite rappers, but damned if he doesn't sound awful on every guest appearance outside of his own camp. For such an obese man, though, Pun's breath control is impressive.

4. TASTER'S CHOICE (SKIT)
A ridiculous sex skit, mandatory on most rap albums. Useless.

5. STILL NOT A PLAYER (FEAT JOE)
I may not have thought much of this single in 1998, but listening to it now, it's actually pretty entertaining, in a "club song for the chicks" way. The version here is the clean radio version, though; you can find the dirty version on Pun's posthumous Endangered Species album.

6. INTERMISSION
Sounds like the theme to a gullier 60 Minutes. What the hell is it doing on the album?

7. THE DREAM SHATTERER
Battle rap at its finest. This version is brought to you by Domingo and the letter "A" (for "Awesome"); the original, unreleased song was produced by Large Professor. (His beat can be found on his Beats, Vol. 1 instrumental album.)

8. PUNISH ME (FEAT MISS JONES)
Radio friendly piffle. You probably should just skip this one.

9. PAKINAMAC PT. 1 (SKIT)
One-third of this album is made up of skits and interludes. That's never a good sign.

10. YOU AIN'T A KILLER
Simplistic beat, but Pun is killing me with the rhymes at this point. I'm pretty sure this song first appeared on the soundtrack to Soul In The Hole, which is apropos to nothing.

11. PAKINAMAC PT. II (SKIT)
All right, fine, this skit has a funny ending. That's still no excuse to include them at all. I'm pretty sure the only person who listens to rap albums straight through these days is me, and I only do that when writing a review, so...

12. CARIBBEAN CONNECTION (FEAT WYCLEF JEAN)
Sounds like what shit dreams of sounding like. Yes, it's that bad.

13. GLAMOUR LIFE (FEAT FAT JOE, TRIPLE SEIS, ARMAGEDDON, & CUBAN LINK)
Big Pun brings out his mentor and his Terror Squad cohorts/weed carriers, whom Fat Joe would adopt and fuck over shortly following Pun's death. Pun's the best one here, for those wondering, but I think Armageddon showed some promise at one point, especially after his solo shot on Fat Joe's Don Cartagena.

14. CAPITAL PUNISHMENT (FEAT PROSPECT)
Not a technically inept song, but very boring. Prospect sure isn't much of one.

15. UNCENSORED (SKIT) (FEAT FUNKMASTER FLEX)
Also "unneeded", "unnecessary", and "unfunny".

16. I'M NOT A PLAYER
Great use of the O'Jay's sample. Just like with its sequel above, I appreciate this song much more today than I did before.

17. TWINZ (DEEP COVER '98) (FEAT FAT JOE)
Joe and Pun steal the beat from Dr. Dre and Snoop's "Deep Cover" and make listeners suffer through an inferior "homage". About as effective as every mixtape rapper today rapping over classic Dre prescriptions.

18. THE RAIN & THE SUN (INTERLUDE) (FEAT DEAD PREZ)
Another unnecessary interlude, but I like the chilled-out sound of it.

19. BOOMERANG
The beats sound unnatural on this album, in that they sound way too creative for a hip hop record. Sure, Pun's delivery sounds good, but the beats are the rug that tie the whole room together.

20. YOU CAME UP (FEAT NOREAGA)
I believe this was a single, too. Too bad, since it sounds terrible.

21. TRES LECHES (TRIBORO TRILOGY) (FEAT PRODIGY & INSPECTAH DECK)
Otherwise known as the "Loud Records Sampler Song". Produced by (surprisingly to me when I read the liner notes in 1998) The Rza, who provides a track that sounds more like something Cypress Hill would rhyme over (it even uses the same sample as "Illusions"). Deck blows both of his collaborators out of the booth with his verse, but I like how Pun threatens to "call you gay on Hot 97", and it actually sounds menacing. Oh, and Prodigy's on here, too.

22. CHARLIE ROCK SHOUT (SKIT)
...

23. FAST MONEY
Crime rap. Not bad by any means, but this album is already too long as it is.

24. PARENTAL DISCRETION (FEAT BUSTA RHYMES)
Not very good at all, but it was produced by Showbiz (of Show and A.G.), and I'm happy he got a beat on a platinum-selling record.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Capital Punishment is an enjoyable listen almost consistently throughout, but I feel the "classic" qualifier is only being applied because the artist has passed away. People, this isn't Ready To Die. It is, however, a fine debut from a rapper who probably would have progressed to making crappier and crappier songs. If he were still alive today, Pun would most certainly have collaborated with Pitbull and Lil' Jon and the like. I don't know about you, but a small part of me is happy that we never have to hear Big Pun destroy his legacy like that. R.I.P.

BUY OR BURN? Because of Big Pun's amazing breath control, I would recommend you pick this one up. Try the used CD stores first, though.

BEST TRACKS: "Tres Leches (Triboro Trilogy)"; "The Dream Shatterer"; "Beware"

(Disagree with the above review? Leave a comment below! Don't be shy!)

-Max