Growing up his whole life in the South Bronx, Punisher had been completely saturated with hip hop culture since its existence. From the writing to boogie to breaking, Pun lived every minute of it to the fullest. Seeing Crazy Legs and Rock Steady make breakdancing famous was one of the first experiences that Pun remembers making him proud to be Puerto Rican.

A couple of years later, in his late teens with his first child on the way, Big Moon Dog, as Pun was formerly known, began to settle down. In the wake of America's most devastating urban epidemic, Pun took the paper route, chasing fast money in the crack game in order to put food on the table.He then maintained an active lifestyle and an athletic build weighing a solid 200 lbs.

After a few cameos with Fat Joe, whom Punisher affectionately calls his "twin", it became instantly clear to the attentive ear that this guy possessed a lyrical gift with incessant breath control and a knock-out punch with the rhymes. His verse on "Fire Water" (featuring Wu-Tang all-star Raekwon) had enough wind to blow out an inferno yet flowed like a waterfall. In no time, mix tape heads ate him up. Funkmaster Flex featured Punisher on the Mix Tape Volume I. He did a song called "Wishful Thinking" with B-Real of Cypress Hill, Kool G Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. NG>Rap, and even made an appearance with Bones Thugs' spin off group, Flesh N Bone.

Aside from his lyrical prowess, Pun displayed an uncanny ability to align his unique vocal style with the right tracks. His album, Capital Punishment, has to be one of the most classic debut rap albums of all time.Whether he was getting gritty on "You Ain't A Killer" plainly pulling cards on a wanna be thug or being slick on. "I'm Not A Player" (I just fuck a lot) by combining a classic chorus from the O'Jays alongside production by Minnesota of Money Boss Player fame..it was no question Christopher Rios was destined for greatness.He was the first Latino rapper too ever go platinum!

Unfortunately Big Pun with all the success doubled his weight!

The following year Big Pun teamed up with Fat Joe and the young rappers Cuban Link, Armageddon, Triple Seis and Prospect to form the Latino rap 'supergroup', the Terror Squad. The crew's self-titled album for Atlantic Records enjoyed strong sales and polite reviews. Big Punisher continued his seemingly inexorable rise with strong contributions to singles by Fat Joe, Noreaga, and Jennifer Lopez.

While continuing to work on his eagerly awaited sophomore album, he was  beset by chronic weight problems.He succumbed to a heart attack in February 2000. The quality of the material on the posthumous Yeeeah Baby, which appeared barely two months later, made the loss seem even more tragic.