Big Pun

Much like the superhero who's referenced by Chris Rios' rhyme-slinging alias, Big Punisher arrived on the rap scene with both guns blazing in 1998 — the year his Capital Punishment debut dropped alongide the Top 40 takeover of "Still Not a Player." Our Big Pun Basics follows the trail of smoke and empty cartridges, revealing the rapper's greatest hits and one hell of a guest appearance (a bass-heavy remix of "Feelin' So Good"), including the G-funk-infused piano keys of "You Ain't a Killer," the smoothed-out soul and spare cabinet-exploding beats of "It's So Hard," and the pitch-dark, alley-cruising Dr. Dre nods of "Twinz (Deep Cover 98)."

In our Next Steps, we tackle the best tracks from Pun's Terror Squad crew along with some of the MC's finest pass-the-mic moments.

The Wu-Tang Clan wasn't the only larger-than-life group churning out posse cuts in the late '90s. With Big Punisher and his mentor, Fat Joe, at its helm, the Terror Squad busted out of the Bronx with a self-titled debut that brought back the glory days of gangsta rap, from the popped caps and sinister, hypnotic hook of "Feelin' This" to the tense, string-scored chase scene of "Triple Threat." On another tip, "Bring 'em Back" is more than a modern-day blaxploitation soundtrack of dusty funk breaks and wobbly wah-wah pedals; it's a club-ready tribute of sorts, featuring the beyond-the-grave verses of Big Pun and Big L, who died within a year of each other from a heart attack and gun shots, respectively.

In the scheme of the hardcore hip-hop scene, Fat Joe came before Big Punisher, helping the latter score a deal with Loud Records somewhere along the way. That said, Big Punisher was the first platinum-coated Latino rapper, as certified by the two-million-plus sales of Capital Punishment. His second disc, 2000's Yeah Baby, went platinum as well, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that Big Pun passed away from a heart attack earlier the same year. No wonder our career overview feels like a manifesto of what could have been, told amid menacing church chimes ("Watch Those"), sped-up samples (the Black Thought-backed "Super Lyrical"), chest-thumping drums ("The Dream Shatterer"), and such traditional Latin music elements as the Spanish hook and flute charanga loop of "100%."