Big Pun's Posthumous 'Yeeeah Baby' Album Turns 20 Years Old!
On this day in 2000, the first posthumous LP to be released by the first “Latin to go platinum” entitled Yeeeah Baby was released on the Loud/Terror Squad imprint.
Christopher “Big Pun” Rios passed away just shy of two months before the release and anticipated success of his sophomore LP, which came on the heels of his debut album, Capital Punishment. With appearances from the entire Terror Squad and executive production by the TS general Fat Joe, the 16-track album showed Pun’s acute diversity not only in his lyricism but his approach to song-making, which yielded some of the most memorable songs of his career. Because of Pun’s extreme obesity, the album took longer to record since his breathing problems couldn’t permit him to freely spit his custom, rapid-fire flow.
Some of the LP’s favorites are the Puerto Rican anthem “100%” with Terror Squad crooner Tony Sunshine on the hook, “New York Giants” featuring M.O.P., “Ms. Martin”, an ode to his protege Remy Ma and the touching single “It’s So Hard” featuring Donnell Jones.
Salute to Big Pun, Pun Jr. and the entire Terror Squad for this unparalleled piece of Hip Hop History!