LeBrun was born on August 17, 1966, in
Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City. At a young age, he learned how to DJ from a crew called DJ Knight and the Knights of Hollywood. until he began deejaying for Kane in the late 1980s. He appeared on the track "Mister Cee's Master Plan" from Kane's 1988 debut album,
Long Live the Kane, In the early 1990s, he gained popularity as a radio DJ, showcasing the music of rising artists. His radio shows
Throwback at Noon and
Friday Night Live would air respectively on New York radio stations
Hot97 and
WBLS. after meeting the rapper through his DJ 50 Grand. help record B.I.G.'s demo and facilitate the deal that got Notorious B.I.G. signed by
Sean "Diddy" Combs to
Bad Boy Records. He influenced many popular artists, including
Alicia Keys, and was referenced in
Jay-Z's
Death of Autotune. He was one of the first DJs to play
Fetty Wap's "
Trap Queen" in 2014, helping launch the rapper's career. In 2008, the video game
Grand Theft Auto IV featured a realistic Mister Cee character on a rap radio station titled "102.7, the Beat". In 2013, his
sexuality entered the public debate after his repeated arrests for soliciting
prostitution from
trans women. Challenged by his radio cohost
Ebro Darden, he was partly secretive, but denied being
gay. and
questioned his sexuality. As a result of the controversy and the station's new plans for music, he resigned from Hot97 temporarily in 2013 and permanently in 2014, moving to his show on
WXBK. Despite the prevalence of
homophobia in the hip hop community, he received support from many notable hip hop figures, including
Questlove. Addressing the incident in 2021 on a podcast hosted by
Maino, LeBrun said that being
outed made him feel dead and likened the experience to a
funeral, stating that in his mind "a whole funeral scene unfolded: who came and didn’t come, who was mourning, who was laughing from the back of the pews." In the same interview he identified himself as a "Try-sexual" meaning that he was "willing to try anything", and affirmed that he was attracted to trans women. == Death ==