'Big Pun: The Legacy' soundtrack shows how today's rap should be

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While his time in the limelight might have been cut considerably short, no one can deny that Big Pun put what little time he did have to good use.

“Big Pun: The Legacy,” a movie documenting the life and career of the Latino rapper, was released Tuesday and comprised of never-before-seen footage and interviews with those near and dear to the late musician.

As one would expect, the documentary was released alongside what you would expect from any movie centered around music: a make-or-break soundtrack.

“Big Pun: The Legacy; (The Best Of Big Pun),” also released Tuesday, includes a timeline full of songs from Pun (born Christopher Rios) that follow him throughout his career.

From his first big radio hit of “I’m Not A Player,” to collaborations with fellow rappers such as close friends Fat Joe and Snoop Dogg, the album consists of voice clips, freestyle segments and previously released tracks from Pun.

Simply put, this soundtrack is what today’s rappers should look up to.

While some of the spoken word segments don’t come from Pun, but from those who knew him, so the CD acts as a sort of documentary on its own. The flow of the songs is very smooth and at only one hour long, listening to the career of Big Pun is at the perfect length to enjoy every minute of it.

Pun, who died of a heart attack at the age of 28 in 2000, lets a lot of his life show through in the album. As the first Latino rapper to have an album go platinum, you can hear the Puerto Rican influence in the beats and loops on certain tracks such as “100%,” and “Off The Books,” despite the fact he was brought up in a neighborhood located in the Bronx.

At first, I thought the redundancy of track three being “I’m Not A Player,” and track eight being “Still Not A Player,” was a joke, but once you find yourself listening you barely notice. Though the album was released under less than ideal circumstances, the songs are good examples of the music being quality fun.

You can definitely feel the love the rap community had for Pun throughout the album through kind words and commentary from peers, though suspiciously absent from the album is his BFF Fat Joe — perhaps that’s something that is saved for the documentary itself.

Honestly, I enjoyed listening to Pun throughout the entire album, and while there were a couple songs that stood out (“It’s So Hard” is a real crowd-pleaser) picking a favorite would be more difficult than necessary.

The CD as an experience was a good one, and as I imagine would please any musician, I can’t imagine the visual documentary being more thorough than Pun’s life through his music.

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