My Uncle, DJ Mister Cee, Wasn’t a Household Name. But He Changed Hip-Hop Forever.

I had the privilege of admiring my Uncle Calvin from afar. Considering he was a renowned disc jockey, more commonly known as DJ Mister Cee, I didn’t see much of him growing up—mostly at family gatherings, or while he was working various events around New York City. Still, from hearing his voice on the radio to seeing his soda sold in stores, Calvin Lebrun, a.k.a. DJ Mister Cee, became an influential figure in my life. He also happened to be a hip-hop giant. Known as “The Finisher,” he was one of the DJs who helped introduce Biggie Smalls—a.k.a. “The Notorious B.I.G.”—to the world. More recently, some promoters and critics have tried to downplay his accomplishments. But you can’t rewrite hip-hop history, or overlook Mister Cee’s significant role in it. Working With Biggie Smalls Calvin LeBrun was born on August 17, 1966 and grew up in Brooklyn, New York. He was of Trinidadian descent and raised in the borough’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in Lafayette Gardens, a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complex known as the “LG projects.” His grandparents raised him, and he grew up listening to hits by artists such as Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder. He always recounted how...