Hip-hop devotees remember legendary lyrics, beats

Nearly a decade after his death, Christopher Rios-more commonly known as Big Pun-is still remembered as one of the greatest rappers of all time.

The Legacy: The Best of Big Pun showcases his lyrical gifts in the form of a documentary soundtrack and greatest hits album.

The album has sounds for a wide range of hip-hop fans.

‘ ‘It’s So Hard’ and ‘Still Not a Player’-the follow-up track to the darker ‘I’m Not a Player’-are geared towards hip pop listeners. These songs are enjoyable without too much bombardment of gangster rap.

‘100%’ is a song for reggaeton fans, and showcases Pun’s Puerto Rican roots.

This album also has old school hip-hop for true fans. ‘Twinz’ pays homage to hip-hop giants Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg by remaking their 1992 song ‘Deep Cover.”

‘Super Lyrical’ pays homage to rapper Notorious B.I.G., with a sample from ‘One More Chance.’

‘Off the Books’ is a track for those who like to dance, but it is full of catchy hooks, with lines such as ‘Come one, come all, if you wanna brawl.”

The rest of the songs on the album are for die-hard rap fans, with lyrics that might make the average hip pop listener cringe.

The most lyrically solid tracks are ‘You Ain’t a Killer,’ ‘Fire Water,’ ‘You Came Up’ and ‘Capital Punishment.’ These four songs highlight Pun’s skills as a lyricist better than any others.

The Legacy features several spoken word tracks from rappers such as Raekwon, Snoop Dogg and Ghostface Killah on how they viewed Pun.

‘One day, (Fat) Joe asked me, ‘Would you get on a joint with Pun?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, the kid got talent,” said rapper Raekwon.

Big Pun died from a massive heart attack on Feb. 7, 2000.

Big Pun ‘- The Legacy is a DVD that features never before seen concert and video footage, as well as more interviews with hip-hop stars.

Vlad Yudin, who directed the DVD, thinks Big Pun would be one of the greats if he was alive.’

‘Who knows how much more Pun would’ve accomplished and where his music would have taken him if it weren’t for his untimely death,’ Yudin said.