R.I.P. - BIG PUN

Today, on February 7, 2000, Big Pun, one of my top 5 greatest emcees of all time, passed away due to a heart attack. His death was so untimely and so sad. He was the first Latin rapper to go platinum and he was so sick-wit-it that you couldn't even classify him as simply a "Latin Rapper." No, he was your favorite rapper's favorite rapper. He was the first true "Lyrical Beast" on the mic. His flow was outrageous, his lyrics were hard, intelligent, ignorant, grimey, and funny all at the same time. He could handle the entire spectrum of Hip Hop and he did just that on his debut album "Capital Punishment." I'll be honest, when 2Pac and Biggie died, it didn't really phase me. When Pun died, I'll never forget sittin' in my dorm room just listening to Capital Punishment on repeat all day. How could he have died one month before the scheduled release of his sophomore LP release "Yeeeeah Baby!"???  I'll never forget Big Pun and I'll never forget his impact on the game of Hip Hop. He is a legend in its truest form.

On September 15, 2009, Vlad Yudin put out a tribute documentary to Big Pun titled "Big Pun: The Legacy." I finally got around to watching this documentary this past week and it was excellent. It brought back so many memories of "the good ol' days" in hip-hop. It was also very emotional and sad as most of you would expect.

The documentary focuses on Big Pun's entire life, from growing up in the Soundview Projects in the Bronx and dealing with an abusive step-father and a heroin addicted mother to him reaching double platinum as a world famous hip-hop artist. It also focuses on Pun's addiction to food once he began to make money. When you see pictures of him as a teenager, you won't believe your eyes. Pun was a muscular, in-shape dude who played basketball with Cuban Link and the rest of his boys from the "Full-a-clips" crew.

"Big Pun: The Legacy" also contains a lot of footage of Big Pun himself in interviews and live performances. You get to see him freestyle in a huge cypher with some other famous rappers and you get to see him perform many different songs live. It disturbed me to an extent to see him performing live while sitting down on a chair on stage. Remarkably, Pun could spit his verses sitting down better than most emcees can do it standing up. There are also interviews with dozens of rappers who reflect on Big Pun and his legacy in the rap game including: Method Man, Raekwon, Prodigy, Snoop Dogg, DMX, Xzibit, Steve Rifkind, Cuban Link, Armageddon, DJ Skribble, and many more.

In addition, Vlad Yudin shed light on Pun's criminal past and obsession with guns. Pun used to walk around with 4 guns in his waist band and constantly pull them out threatening people. Most of the shit he rhymed about was actually for real, unlike 90% of the rappers out there.

I highly recommend coppin' this DVD, especially if you weren't into Big Pun back in the day. After witnessing his skills in this documentary, nobody can deny his talent and impact he had on hip-hop. For me personally, if you don't consider Big Pun to be in your top 5 dead or alive list of greatest rappers of all time, then you absolutely do not know what the fuck you're talking about. Heads that don't recognize him as one of the best ever simply aren't real hip-hop fans. WORD LIFE!!!!

You can cop this DVD at:

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Pun-Legacy-Snoop-Dogg/dp/B002C8YSEM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1257438932&sr=8-1

Peep the trailer here: