It is November 10, and had history been kinder to Hip-Hop, Big Pun would have been 51 today.
Arguably, one of rap music’s greatest lyricists and most icon Latino emcees, Big Pun embodied the lovable nature of Heavy D with the rhyme ferocity of The Notorious B.I.G. He also was the linchpin of Fat Joe’s Terror Squad empire, giving the Bronx bomber legitimacy as a music mogul and talent scout. Without his “twin,” even The Don would concede that there would be no Joey Crack as we know him.
During an IG Live Fat Joe gave an exclusive account of what it was like to have a gift of a friend and artist like The Punisher and the late rapper’s funny, lovable nature.
“We were at Battery Studios in Manhattan and it was one of the premier studios and that’s where I used to work at all the time,” the Terror Squad boss remembered. “Whenever I needed a studio, whenever I needed anything, that’s where I would go work.”
“One night I went to the studio. Pun comes in the studio with Tony Sunshine. If y’all don’t know about Big Pun, Big Pun was the biggest or prankster in the world, he would do pranks on anybody.”
Fat Joe went on to detail one of the legend’s most iconic pranks.
“He would buy a Big Mac and offer you a Big Mac and take the green wasabi from the Japanese sushi spot, throw it in there and you take one bite your ass is on fire. I don’t care if you were skinny good looking at you was funny you wasn’t gonna beat Big Pun at the snap back, you wasn’t gonna out joke him.”
He continues with his story, “So I’m in the studio and Big Pun walks in with Tony Sunshine. When they walk in, I got an engineer, a little white guy, nicest guy in the world.”
“So, Pun walks in and pulls out a gun.”
“I’m like, ‘Yo Tone why yall pulling that out?’ So, Tone’s laughing. In the studio they give you this, fruitbowl. So it’s a bowl with bananas strawberries apples. So,
Tony goes and grabs an apple and tells the kid the engineer to stay still. So Tony puts the apple on the guy’s head. The guy is scared to death, s####### bricks. So am I! I never thought they would shoot at the apple.”
As the story goes, Joey gets more animated talking about the ruckus that his friend caused.
“So, Tone is telling him ‘stay still bro, stay still.’ And, Pun is aiming, whatever. Sure enough, Pun squeezed the triple trigger and it goes ‘POWW’ like a real gun. So the kid dives into the board, scared
to death, Tone, and Pun is laughing to death and I’m screaming at Pun, ‘Yo what the f### is wrong with you, why would you do some s### like that?’”
“And basically,” the “Lean Back” rapper says: “It was a movie gun that got blanks. They never again in the history of mankind allowed me in that studio again. No matter what the case. They never allowed me in that studio again, this is the type of s### Big Pun would do.”
Pun was definitely a character who transitioned way before his time. While we all mourn, we are so grateful to have experienced his genius and to live during a time that he rip stages.