Big Punisher a/k/a Big Pun - Endangered Species (April 3, 2001)

Christopher Rios passed away from a fatal heart attack in February of 2000. A couple of months later, his posthumous sophomore album Yeeeah Baby, which was completed before his death, was released, moving over half a million copies and cementing Big Punisher's legacy as one of the best (or possibly the best) Puerto Rican rappers of all time.

One year later, Big Pun's friend, frequent rhyme partner, and fellow Terror Squad member Fat Joe decided to capitalize on the man's passing by executive-producing an album entitled Endangered Species. Using the title Pun originally wanted to use for his second album, Large Joseph compiled some of Pun's greatest hits, along with unreleased tracks, high-profile guest appearances, and the occasional bit of randomness, to create a twenty-four track thesis proving the man's lyrical prowess, which, to be honest, was never really in question after his debut, Capital Punishment, hit store shelves.

The problem I have with this project is that Pun's wife wasn't the beneficiary of any of the profits from Endangered Species. Allegedly, Joey Crack ran off with the money, leaving Christopher's widow with only a small pittance, forcing her to sell her husband's Terror Squad medallion to the highest bidder in 2005 in order to make ends meet.

Fat Joe, on the other hand, has run his rap career into the ground, engaged in pointless public feuds with Curtis Jackson and Pun's close friend Cuban Link, embarked on an endless quest for his next club banger (which has resulted in numerous failed attempts and a lot of really shitty music), and has generally squandered any goodwill he may have garnered by being an original member of the Diggin' In The Crates crew, a fact which eludes most hip hop heads who now only know him for that song he did with Lil' Wayne that was about dropping money on women in a manner that made it appear as if it fell from the sky.

Yeah, karma's a motherfucking bitch.

1. INTRO
Depressing as hell.

2. YOU AIN'T A KILLER
Taken from Capital Punishment, but still works as an example of what Pun sounded like when his capacity to rip shit was paired up with a worthy instrumental. In fact, I like this song more so than when I bought Pun's debut CD.

3. TWINZ (DEEP COVER '98) (FEAT FAT JOE)
Also taken from Capital Punishment, this “Deep Cover” remake features Fat Joe and Big Punisher doing their best impersonations of Dr. Dre and Snoop Doggy Dogg. This track was interesting within its original context, but when inserted randomly onto a combination greatest hits-slash-unreleased b-sides compilation such as Endangered Species, It simply sounds out of place, like a moderately decent mixtape freestyle. Sigh.

4. WHATCHA GON DO (TERROR SQUAD)
Juju's beat is really fucking good, but Pun sounds ill-suited for it. His singing on the hook is funny the first time around, but considering that it's the fucking hook, which means that it is repeated many times throughout the song, you'll get sick of it very quickly.

5. HOW WE ROLL (FEAT ASHANTI)
An Ashanti guest spot, recorded at the beginning of her career, that went unnoticed upon the release of Endangered Species. Why? Because this shit sucks. I seem to remember a video featuring a computer-generated Pun, though, so maybe that counts for absolutely nothing.

6. STILL NOT A PLAYER (FEAT JOE)
From Capital Punishment. I thought that I remembered reading somewhere that Endangered Species would (finally) feature the dirty version of this little ditty, but apparently it was misplaced by the label like a set of keys, as the radio version appears on my copy. (If you know where to look, you should come across the filthy version on the Interweb.) The song is still enjoyable, so you probably won't miss all of the curse words anyway.

7. OFF THE BOOKS (THE BEATNUTS FEAT BIG PUNISHER & CUBAN LINK)
Not an actual Big Pun song, but this Beatnuts track is possibly the first bit of mainstream exposure the man received. (At least, this was where I first heard of him: I didn't follow Fat Joe's career from the start, so I didn't get to Pun's debut appearances for quite a while.) I listened to this shit on repeat six times before I remembered that there's quite a bit more of Endangered Species to get through: this shit still sounds that good. I fucking love this song, you two, and if you've had the pleasure of ever hearing it yourself, you probably do, too.

8. WORDS FROM N.O.R.E. (FEAT NOREAGA)
Sounds exactly as it reads.

9. BANNED FROM TV (NOREAGA FEAT BIG PUNISHER, CAM'RON, JADAKISS, STYLES P., & NATURE)
Taken from Noreaga's debut solo album. This lineup was a big deal back in the late 1990s, as was the fact that Swizz Beats provided the lame-ass instrumental. Personally, I find the chemistry between most of these guys to be salvageable, as it comes off that they all at least knew of each other before recording this, but this song didn't work for me back then, and it damn sure doesn't now.

10. MAMMA (FEAT TONY SUNSHINE)
This isn't really an ode to Pun's mother or anything. It's not terrible, but it is very jarring within the context of this project.

11. THE BEAT BOX
Skit...

12. BRAVE IN THE HEART (FEAT TERROR SQUAD)
The beat isn't as hard-hitting as I remembered, but this song still works extremely well.

13. THE DREAM SHATTERER (ORIGINAL VERSION)
Uses a different beat than what ended up on Capital Punishment. I have to say, I prefer the album version a lot more. It just sounded much more polished, as if the newer beat enveloped the lyrics in a much more comforting way, not unlike wrapping yourself in a Snuggie.

14. WORDS FROM FAT JOE (FEAT FAT JOE)
Maybe if he spent more time honoring his fallen comrade and less time introducing his many aliases, I would give a lot more of a fuck about what Large Joseph has to say about his friend.

15. JOHN BLAZE (FAT JOE FEAT BIG PUNISHER, RAEKWON, NAS, & JADAKISS)
A Fat Joe song with an all-star cast. Upon its original release, I liked the lyricism exhibited (although, I have to admit, I mainly paid attention to this track back in the day because Raekwon appeared on here), but I was nonplussed by Ski's beat. So, nothing has really changed, except I now very strongly prefer every artist's verse over that of Joey Crack.

16. MY WORLD
There's something about Bill Conti's “Going The Distance” (from the score of Rocky) that lends itself well to a rap beat. (Puff Daddy and EPMD have both used it with excellent results.) Pun spits in a much slower fashion than you may expect, but he still sounds pretty fucking good. In fact, everything about this track works. Well, everything except for the clichéd title.

17. PIÑA COLADA (RUFF RYDERS FEAT BIG PUNISHER)
No thanks, I'll pass. This shit was pretty fucking awful.

18. TOP OF THE WORLD (BRANDY FEAT BIG PUNISHER & FAT JOE)
This wasn't that great of a Brandy song to begin with, so this remix is absolutely nothing special. The next track will really throw you for a loop, though, unless you already own this album and have been following along.

19. LIVIN' LA VIDA LOCA (REMIX) (RICKY MARTIN FEAT BIG PUNISHER, FAT JOE, & CUBAN LINK)
Yeah, you read the title and guest list correctly. From a Puerto Rican synergy aspect, this pairing makes sense, but my God, this collaboration sounds boring. I'd prefer to listen to Ricky's original song on repeat for a year, both in English and in Spanish, thanks. Groan.

20. FIREWATER (FAT JOE FEAT BIG PUNISHER, ARMAGEDDON, & RAEKWON)
An oldie but a goodie (featuring one of Pun's earliest guest appearances). This was recorded back when Fat Joe didn't give a fuck about radio airplay, and that lack of awareness makes him sound like a much more passionate artist. Raekwon also sounds alert. But Pun's verse is easily the most impressive.

21. CLASSIC VERSES
The first verse (from D.I.T.C.'s “Drop It Heavy”) is a really long take, but Pun sounds, admittedly, fucking hilarious and amazing. The second verse (from DJ Clue's “Fantastic 4”) sounds like an alternate version of what ended up on DJ Clue's first major label mixtape release. Either way, these were decent choices. Curious that they didn't just include the full songs, though, since they did so for Noreaga and The Beatnuts.

22. FREESTYLE WITH REMY MARTIN (FEAT REMY MARTIN)
Pun starts things off, but Remy Martin quickly takes over. She sounded alright, and her final threat is appropriately menacing, but that's all I have to say.

23. WISHFUL THINKING (FEAT FAT JOE, B-REAL, & KOOL G RAP)
The B-side to the “I'm Not A Player” single. I always wondered why this song failed to make the final cut of Capital Punishment based on the star power involved alone. And now I know: it's awfully dull for what it is. It's not the worst song Big Pun ever recorded, but this should have been left in the vault.

24. HOW WE ROLL '98
A remix for a piss-poor song that appeared earlier in the tracklisting? The hell? Every time I hear that tumbling dice sound effect, I expect Billy Lawrence to start singing the hook to that old Rampage song “Take It To The Streets”. This remix is fucking terrible. You couldn't end Endangered Species with “Tres Leches (Triboro Trilogy)” (although I just realized that title may lead non-Spanish speakers to believe that 'tres leches' is Spanish for 'triboro trilogy': trust me, it's not) or something, Joey?

FINAL THOUGHTS: Endangered Species succeeds where both Biggie Smalls posthumous discs failed: it celebrates Big Punisher's legacy, with exemplary solo tracks and guest spots serving as examples, without turning the man into something he wasn't. A lot of these tracks showcase a lyricist that will truly be missed in the game, and even though some of the selections were very questionable (Ricky Martin? Really?), that's what the 'skip' button was invented for. All in all, a pretty good compendium of the work of the late Christopher Rios.

BUY OR BURN? If you come across this in a used CD store, you may as well pick it up. A lot of this is pretty good, especially some of his guest appearances, and you'll probably never see Max recommend the purchase of an album that features Ricky Martin ever again, so you two should jump at the chance.

BEST TRACKS: “Off The Books”; “My World”; “Firewater”; “You Ain't A Killer”; “Still Not A Player”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Other Big Pun albums can be discussed by clicking here.

Big Punisher (a/k/a Big Pun) - Yeeeah Baby (April 4, 2000)

With the release of his debut album, Capital Punishment, Christopher Rios, known as Big Punisher in the hip hop realm, became the first rapper of Latino descent to move over one million units. While this was an impressive feat (one which has since been eclipsed by the sales of other artists like Pitbull and, strangely, Fat Joe, who was essentially Pun's mentor and fellow Terror Squad crew member), there is (in my mind) an asterisk next to the album's name in the hip hop hall of fame. Why? Because the music was actually (mostly) good. Pun's debut disc was released during the late part of the 1990s, which meant that he was coerced into including radio-friendly piffle such as "I'm Not A Player", "Still Not A Player", and "Why Is It That You Cannot Grasp The Fact That I Am Not Of The Player Persuasion? (Bad Boy Remix) (featuring Loon)", but, on the sly, he also forced listeners to hear visceral street tales created with the assistance of some of New York's finest, including The Beatnuts, a couple of guys from the Wu-Tang Clan, Prodigy (from Mobb Deep), various Terror Squad crew members, and Busta Rhymes.

However, Pun's follow-up, Yeeeah Baby, was recorded under a different regime, one which dictated that the radio was God and radio airplay meant your salvation. Pun explained in interviews that he was deliberately aiming for a wider audience, and although his lyrical flow (which was always inconceivably good) didn't really change, his taste in musical backdrops took a turn for the damn near clinically insane (and I mean that in a bad way). Like Capital Punishment, he litters Yeeeah Baby with guests, but unlike its predecessor, the cameos actually detract from the overall experience, for the most part.

Big Pun wouldn't live to see the release of Yeeeah Baby, as he passed away from a fatal heart attack two months before it hit store shelves. Thus rendering Yeeeah Baby as an inadvertently posthumous tribute to the man's legacy. It also managed to move over a million units, but unlike the first album, I don't know anybody that actually admits to owning a copy.

Here's why.

1. THE CREATION (INTRO) (FEAT LORD SEAR)
This is just stupid. I can't believe I wasted a minute and a half of my life with this shit.

2. WATCH THOSE
And already Yeeeah Baby sounds nothing like Capital Punishment. Pun doesn't sound like he's refined his flow any, but to be fair, he already sounded pretty good. The instrumental, from Knobody, is not a good fit for the Punisher, which is weird, since he actually produced Pun's hit "Still Not A Player". Huh.
3. OFF WITH HIS HEAD (FEAT PROSPECT)
I don't know what Just Blaze was going for with the beat (other than cashing a fucking check), but in no way does it actually serve to create any sort of mood conducive to this type of hip hop. Although even if the beat was good, I still couldn't recall anything memorable about anybody's lyrics on here.

4. IT'S SO HARD (FEAT DONELL JONES)
I hated this song when it was first released, and not just because Pun's ad-libs during the first break for the chorus are depressing as fuck (he says “I just lost a hundred pounds, I'm trying to live!”): I thought the song itself sucked. Today, I found Pun's lyrics kind of funny, but the beat has “radio-friendly” written all over its DNA, and I still can't care for it.

5. WE DON'T CARE (FEAT CUBAN LINK)
That title just opens itself up for all sorts of criticism. All justified.

6. NEW YORK GIANTS (FEAT M.O.P.)
Although the pairing isn't the most obvious in the hip hop realm, Pun and M.O.P. Mash out nicely over this collaborative Minnesota and Mahogany beat. Still doesn't make up for M.O.P.'s collaboration with L.F.O., though.

7. MY DICK (FEAT TONY SUNSHINE)
Meh.
8. LEATHER FACE
Other than the silly hook, this legitimate contender for the horrorcore genre actually comes the closest, out of everything I've heard so far, to match the craziness from Capital Punishment. This isn't bad.

9. AIR PUN (SKIT)
…

10. 100% (FEAT TONY SUNSHINE)
This actually sounds pretty decent. Sure, the beat sounds more like the soundtrack to a Renaissance Fair than it does for walking around in Puerto Rico (or at least it treads a fine line), but Pun sounds right at home, and Tony Sunshine's singing only adds to the proceedings.

11. WRONG ONES (FEAT SUNKISS)
The hook is hilariously awful, and SunKiss sounds terrible over this faster-paced beat. Only Pun manages to sound comfortable, but subject matter-wise, this song isn't saying anything. The hip hop equivalent of empty calories.

12. LAUGHING AT YOU (FEAT TONY SUNSHINE)
Big Pun's version of The Notorious B.I.G.'s “Juicy” is corny as fuck, thanks to a ridiculous chorus that grates on the nerves (and then, for no reason, starts to mimic the Simple Minds hit “Don't You Forget About Me”). Regardless of what Pun actually says on the track, it's so bad that I can only hope that you don't have to experience it in your lifetime.

13. N---A SHIT
Really? We're still giving rap songs titles like this?

14. MS. MARTIN (FEAT REMY MARTIN)
The first (mostly) solo showcase for current prison inmate Remy Martin, also known as Remy Ma. For what it's worth, she at least grabs your attention with the line “[if] a pregnant bitch talk shit, I'ma destroy her fetus”. (And yet Biggie's line about robbing pregnant women on “Gimme The Loot” was censored?) Anyway, Remy actually isn't bad, but Pun's hook, aping 702's “Where My Girls At?”, is piss-poor.

15. MY TURN
I can't imagine that Pun actually liked any of these beats, especially after the street tales blessed by the likes of the Rza, Juju from The Beatnuts, Domingo, and Showbiz from Capital Punishment. (True, producers Knobody and Younglord provides tracks for both albums, but that's immaterial right now.) Pun's opening salvo, “Fuck you and yours!” is pretty good, though: it deserved a better backdrop.

16. YOU WAS WRONG (FEAT FAT JOE, REMY MARTIN, & DRAG-ON)
Who the fuck invited Drag-On's Cam'Ron-sounding ass to what is essentially a Terror Squad posse cut? Whoever it was, they were wrong. The DJ Shok beat is awful, but Pun, Fat Joe, and Remy Ma all sound like they actually belong in a group together. Sadly, though, this is a terrible way to end what would end up being Pun's final recorded album in his lifetime.

FINAL THOUGHTS: While Capital Punishment sounded like a mixtape featuring beats and rhymes from your favorite New York artists, Yeeeah Baby comes off as its richer, more arrogant cousin, with its so-polished-you-can-see-yourself-in-them beats, which Pun doesn't do too well over. I'm puzzled as to what Pun was thinking when he recorded this shit: lyrically, it is decent (at least when Pun is behind the mic), but the music mostly sucks horse cock. It's sad that this album serves as the last gift Big Punisher gave to humanity: we would all do better to pretend that the guy only put out the one album.

BUY OR BURN? I suppose you can burn this if you must, but there really isn't anything on here that will alter the course of events in your life. A lot of this disc is flat out boring. Sigh.

BEST TRACKS: “Leather Face”; “New York Giants”

-Max

RELATED POSTS:
Big Punisher - Capital Punishment

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