Big Punisher Suffers Fatal Heart Attack
MTV NEWS — BY ANDRA DUNCAN
Published · reached Usenet February 7, 2000
Rapper Big Punisher, currently heard on Jennifer Lopez' "Feelin' So Good" single, suffered a heart attack and was pronounced dead Monday afternoon at the age of 28.
A hospital spokesperson declined to discuss details of the rapper's condition and told MTV News that Big Pun (real name Christopher Rios) was dead on arrival at the hospital at approximately 4 p.m. (ET) Monday afternoon.
Rios is survived by a wife and three children.
Big Pun was slated to join Lopez and Fat Joe for a performance of "Feelin' So Good" on last weekend's edition of "Saturday Night Live," but he did not turn up on the show. Pun leapt from the underground to the mainstream with his 1998 album "Capital Punishment" and the hit single "Still Not A Player." At the time of his death, the rapper was preparing to release his sophomore album, titled "Yeehah Baby," in April.