How Mike Tyson saved Big Pun and Fat Joe’s life
The late Big Pun was a legendary rapper in the late 1990s and was one of the first Latino rappers to break into the mainstream successfully. Along with fellow Puerto Rican rapper Fat Joe, Big Pun became one of the most popular New York rappers before passing in 2000.
Born Christopher Rios, Big Pun came from the inner city projects of the Castle Hill neighbourhood and was inspired by acts such as Rakim and Big Daddy Kane growing up. Wanting to enter the world of hip hop, Big Pun tracked down Fat Joe, who was one of the most prominent Puerto Rican rappers of the early ’90s.
With their shared Puerto Rican heritage, Rios decided to wait for the rapper outside a Bronx bodega. Along with a group of friends, having successfully found Fat Joe, Rios asked him if he could rap for him. When Fat Joe exited the bodega, Pun asked him if he could, which he did. As the head of a crew, Joe made Pun the face of the Terror Squad.
The two quickly became a dynamic duo, and within a few years, Pun was the first Latino rapper to sell over one million rap albums. However, as two aggressive and young stars of rap, Rios and Fat Joe (real name Jose Cartagena) often got into trouble.
On one occasion, Cartagena, alongside other members of the Terror Squad, almost got killed by mobsters at a Puerto Rican Day Parade in Bridgeport after they messed with kingpin Frankie “The Terminator” Estrada and his crew.
However, during an appearance on Hotboxin’ With Mike Tyson, Fat Joe revealed that the boxer once saved his life, stating, “Remember that time you saved me and Big and Pun’s lives? Me and Pun had a show in Jersey. Pun was like, ‘Yo twin, just me and you. Let’s go to The Tunnel Club!’ So I said, ‘F*ck it let’s go!'”
He continued, “So we go to The Tunnel, and it’s just me and Pun. The Tunnel was so violent they made you take your boots off. Pun didn’t want to take his boots off because…you know he’s a big guy so he started arguing with this one bouncer. We going back at it me and Pun and them and before you know it it turns into like five bouncers, six bouncers. Now at this point, I grab Pun like, ‘You know they’re gonna beat the sh*t out of us?!”
He concluded, “Then out of nowhere you hear a voice ‘Ayo Joe! Pun right f*ck these n*ggas. We turn around, and it’s Mike Tyson! The main guy who was gonna beat us up, Mike, was chasing him in his socks around the car, trying to beat up the guy!”
Cartagena called it a classic moment he will always remember. You can listen to Fat Joe speaking with the boxer in the video below.