Big Pun’s Family Wants A Street Named After Him

Big Pun‘s sister, Nicole Rodriguez is spearheading an effort to have a street in the Bronx, NY named in honor of her late brother. She hopes to have E. 163rd St. and Rogers Place in the Longwood neighborhood renamed “Big Pun Place.”

“I feel I owe this to my brother,” Rodriguez told the New York Daily News. “He was not only my brother, he was a father figure. He stepped in when my parents couldn’t. So I want to push for this. He deserves it.”

Rodriguez launched the website, BigPunPlace.com where she is collecting signatures on an online petition to have the city recognize her brother, who died of a heart attack in 2000 at the age of 28.  Since the petition launched in late February, over 1,200 signatures have been collected.

An effort to have a street named in Pun’s honor was launched in 2000 but was shot down by the city claiming that Pun’s lyrics were too “racy and violent.”

“If you listened to his lyrics, he also talked about struggles, about family life, about strife, about poverty and overcoming,” Pun’s mother, Gail Tirado said. “He rapped about reality. He spoke the truth.”

Tirado and Rodriguez will speak before a community board next month to make their case for Big Pun Place.

RELATED: The Biggest Rappers Of All Time (Literally)

RELATED: Big Pun’s Widow Breaks Down The Numbers!