NEW YORK — Mister Cee, a beloved and influential determine in hip-hop, who served because the DJ for rapper Huge Daddy Kane and is credited with serving to to find The Infamous B.I.G., has died, in line with his former employer, New York’s Scorching 97 hip-hop radio station.
He was 57.
“As a household at HOT 97 and WBLS, we’re deeply saddened by the passing of our beloved Mister Cee,” reads the assertion posted on Scorching 97’s website. “He wasn’t only a DJ; he was a pillar of our stations, bringing pleasure to numerous listeners along with his legendary Throwback at Midday and Friday Night time Stay units.”
“Mr. Cee’s affect stretched far past the airwaves, shaping the very cloth of NYC’s DJ tradition,” the assertion goes on to learn. “Our hearts are heavy as we ship our love and condolences to his household and the followers whose lives he touched by his music. Relaxation simple, Mr. Cee. Your legacy will dwell endlessly.”
No reason behind loss of life was shared.
Born Calvin LeBrun, he hailed from Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and it was there he would make the connections that will issue closely into his life and profession.
He turned the official DJ for his highschool pal, famed rapper Huge Daddy Kane, engaged on his 1988 debut album “Lengthy Stay The Kane,” after rising on the hip-hop music scene in New York Metropolis.
LeBrun’s childhood pal Kevin “DJ 50 Grand” Griffin helped rapper Christopher Wallace file his demo, which launched him into infamy as The Infamous B.I.G., aka Biggie Smalls.
“The primary time I met him was when his DJ 50 Grand, relaxation in peace, [DJ 50 Grand died in 2022] introduced Huge to my home. The plan was we have been going to redo the basement demo that he and 50 Grand put collectively,” LeBraun instructed Rock the Bells final yr. “Huge was very shy. He would all the time speak along with his head down and say, ‘Yo man, do not be promising me nothing, man. If you happen to say you are going to do one thing, do it.’ And I am like, nah, we will redo the demo.”
He not solely obtained credit score with serving to to get Wallace the eye that made him a star, but additionally served as an affiliate producer on the rapper’s debut 1994 album, “Prepared To Die.”
LeBrun went on to have a preferred profession as a DJ and radio persona for Scorching 97, a lot in order that Jay-Z title checked him and Funkmaster Flex on his 2009 single “D.O.A. (Dying of Auto-Tune)” by saying, “I made this only for Flex and Mister Cee.”
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