Recently, Liza Rios, Big Pun’s widow (who also put out “Still Not a Player,” a documentary about life with the legend, and her struggle with domestic abuse in their marriage) said that financial woes have forced her and her kids to live in a city shelter. Rios says that she received $160k in royalties from her late husband’s music, but that those funds were quickly used up in mortgage payments and childcare.

Today, The Life Files posted a response from Fat Joe, who Rios has often blamed for her financial problems….

“Immediately after Puns death I gave Liza Rios the whole advance of the Endangered Species album, NO ONE but Liza made a dollar off that album. I also gave her the total advance from the publishing company that was due to Big Pun.

I’ve never made a dollar off Big Pun since his passing. This was hundreds of thousands of dollars of frivolous spending, after the second payoff I washed my hands. Since then we have been through 6 lawyers, harassment on various radio stations and online mediums every time she needs more money. I also have legal documents stating that NO ONE is making money off of Big Pun.

I sympathize with Liza, but I have done already done enough for her. In these economic times we as parents need to be resilient and do what it takes to provide for our own families.”

So once again, we get back to the topic of responsibility vs charity vs legacy vs image.
To what extent is a rapper’s mentor and/or the label or execs who made money off of him responsible for taking care of his wife and kids? We’ve seen instances where friends of fallen rappers announce their plans to help support the surviving family members. Jay-Z rapped in “What We Do,”: “But I gotta feed Tianna [Biggie's daughter], man. So I move keys…” [**reader The Kraken wisely points out that this rhyme is may refer to Jay-Z's own niece, not Biggie's daughter....I'll try to think of another lyric, which I'm terrible at by the way...but off the top of my head, we've heard Diddy talk about Biggie's estate, and we've heard Busta Rhymes say that he was setting up funds for his deceased bodyguard's kids] And other deceased artists have foundations set up to handle their posthumous projects and revenue. Big Pun’s Capital Punishment and Yeeaah Baby sold multi-platinum, but I’m not sure if Endangered Species did.
But with no Rappers Benevolent Association, and no pension plan….what are the unofficial rules?
How does it work with organized crime (since some of their “street rules,” are appropriated too)?…does the wife get an envelope for the rest of her life? Or does it peter off once the support wears off its image-enhancing value?
Now…as Fat Joe points out….to what extent is Liza Rios responsible for her and her family’s own support? The real tragedy is that there are many children, related to legend and not, who are living in the shelter system….where focusing on survival leaves little room for being a kid.

(thanks to Ice for the link)