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New Big Pun Mural To Mark Anniversary Of Rapper's Death

Tats Cru graffiti artists will paint memorial in rapper's native Bronx on Tuesday.

One year after rapper Big Punisher's death, the famed Tats Cru graffiti crew will paint a new mural in his honor.

A commemorative mural painted last year at 163rd Street and Westchester Avenue in the rapper's native Bronx, New York, will be whitewashed on Tuesday and a new one will be painted, a spokesperson at Loud Records, Pun's former label, said. Several friends and former partners in the Terror Squad, including Fat Joe, Cuban Link and Tony Sunshine, will be on hand for the painting.

Big Punisher, born Christopher Rios, suffered a fatal heart attack on February 7 last year. He was 28 years old and reportedly weighed almost 700 pounds at the time of his death.

Pun's first posthumous album, Yeeeah Baby, was released two months later, and featured several guest performers, including Fat Joe, Cuban Link, Brooklyn group M.O.P. and R&B singer/songwriter Donell Jones.

Endangered Species, the latest Pun album, is due April 3 and includes unreleased material, hits from his two albums and some of the rapper's high-profile collaborations. Fat Joe will provide the liner notes.

A hero in the Latino community of the Bronx, the Puerto Rican Pun was the first Latino solo rapper to go platinum — his 1998 debut, Capital Punishment, reached double-platinum status with help from the hit single "Still Not a Player".

Tats Cru is one of a few commercial graffiti crews, whose clients include Coca Cola, Reebok and Loud Records.

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