Capital Punishment is the debut studio album by American rapper Big Pun, released by RCA Records, Loud Records and Fat Joe’s Terror Squad Productions. Released on April 28, 1998, it is the only album released during his lifetime. The album peaked at number five on the Billboard 200 charts and number one on the Top R&B Albums chart for two weeks. It was nominated for Best Rap Album at the 1999 Grammy Awards, but lost to Jay-Z’s Vol. 2… Hard Knock Life. It was also the first solo Latin hip hop record to go Platinum.
- Entertainment Weekly (7/17/98, p. 85) – “Everything about this Bronx-bred Puerto Rican rapper is generous, his 400-pound girth, his multiple rhyming within each line, and his talent for spewing out verses without stopping for breath.” – Rating: B+[4]
- Q (6/00, p. 123) – 4 stars out of 5 – “Displaying huge lyrical prowess and the requisite ‘sensitive’ side…[the album] established Pun as a serious rival to Biggie Smalls and something of a ladykiller to boot….funk and fun aplenty….Outrageously good.”
- The Source (6/98, p. 159) – 4 Mics (out of 5) – “He’ll rhyme every possible word in a line because he wants to be twice as nice….Capital Punishment’s all about execution.”
- Rap Pages (9/98, p. 120) – 4 (out of 5) – “Big Pun is at his best with all barrels firing bullets lacing the air like embroidery on grandmama’s quilt.”
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