Big Pun

Though many consider Big Pun the most pivotal figure in the history of Latino MC's, his accomplishments and those of the rappers and producers who followed were predicated on the milestones reached by prior generations of Latino artists. But like most of the racial discourse in America, discussions of Hip Hop have often revolved around black/white dynamics, in the process obscuring the contributions made by Latinos since the genre's very inception. Wu-Tang Clan's Raekwon dug the way Pun played with slang and tongue-twisting verses "Dead in the middle of Little Italy/Little did we know we riddled a middleman who didn't do diddily," and the way he could whip up freestyles and catchy songs with equal aplomb. Though he started out in the group Full A Clips Crew, originally calling himself Big Moon Dog, Pun's rap career really took off after he linked with fellow Bronx MC Fat Joe in 1995. Joe remembers meeting him outside a bodega on 166th and Tinton Avenue in the South Bronx and hearing him rhyme on the spot. He found Pun to be a charismatic lyricist with superior command of language and a super-speedy flow. That much was apparent in grimy anthems like "You Came Up," featuring Noreaga, and "Beware," a three-minute Hip Hop blitz of 1998, when he dropped the underground hit "I'm Not A Player" and earned mainstream love with its Joe-assisted remix "Still Not A Player," the impact of which was felt throughout the Hip Hop nation, including out West. At that point, according to Xzibit, Pun's force was irrefutable.