New Big Pun album hits a roadblock

By: Yves Erwin Salomon

Sony Records owns the rights to recordings made by late rapper Big Pun, as he was signed to their subsidiary Loud Records at the time of his death in 2000, but plans to release another posthumous album by the rapper have hit a roadblock. New York's Daily News reports that producer John "Jellybean" Benitez, who owns the publishing rights to several of the previously unreleased songs that would be included on the new album, has refused to negotiate with the label. A source told the paper, "Sony owns Big Pun as an artist, but Jellybean owns the publishing rights to many of the songs. Sony wants to do another album, but (Benitez) hasn't returned calls. He's playing the game."

Big Pun, whose real name was Christopher Rios, died from a fatal heart attack in February 2000. He was survived by a wife and three kids.

Big Pun released his debut album, Capital Punishment, in 1998, which made the rapper the first solo Latino hip-hop artist to achieve platinum status. There have been two posthumous Pun albums -- 2000's Yeeeah Baby and 2001's Endangered Species.