Liza Rios, the wife of late rapper Big Pun recently sounded off on a number of industry issues in an interview with Forbez DVD, including Fat Joe and Pun‘s finances.
One issue Rios has with those close to Pun is the lack of effort to keep his memory alive. She likens the situation to people close to 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. since their deaths in the 90’s.
“Like Puffy was in a position with Biggie, to keep his memory alive… the people that was in that position to do it with Pun should’ve did it,” she says of the lack of attention Pun has received since his death.
The first deal [Pun] got was a $275,000 deal. Any payments were split with [Fat] Joe. There was a point where [Joe] was asking for his royalties.
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Rios says her lawyers haven’t been as aggressive as she feels they should be in contacting Fat Joe, and according to her, all of Pun’s royalty money goes through him first.
“It’s been ten years,” she says. “It’s been recouped.”
Rios also says that her finances have been stretched between taking care of her children and maintaining household expenses. She denies the allegations that she’s blown much of her late husband’s money on material things.
“I do what I gotta do,” she says on how she gets by since Pun’s passing. “I’m going back to school, that’s gonna be good. My whole point is that I’m not asking anybody for anything.
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“I don’t want Joe to take care of me, I just want what’s due to Pun.”
Rios also believes that Fat Joe is purposely keeping Pun‘s memory in the background, in hopes that the late emcee will be forgotten. She also levies the allegation that Fat Joe owes much of his current success to Pun.
“Pun had mad love for [Joe] and put him on the map, wrote all his shit. Every song that Joe’s on, Pun wrote everything. He was the creative force behind Terror Squad. Everybody write’s [Joe’s] shit.
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“If he was alive, none of this would be going on.”
While Rios lays much of the blame on Fat Joe, she also says that Pun shares some of the blame for not being up on the business aspect of his deal.
“Hell yeah, he should’ve been smarter.”
Rios also revealed that she’s trying to set up a foundation in Pun’s name, possibly focusing on addressing the issue of obesity in the Hip Hop community.
