Mister Cee, a famed hip

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mister Cee, one of hip-hop’s pioneering DJs and a New York City radio personality who played an instrumental role in the Notorious B.I.G.‘s debut album, has died. He was 57.

The famed disk jockey’s death was confirmed Wednesday by Skip Dillard, the brand manager at 94.7 The Block NYC, where Cee had a show. The cause of death has not been announced.

“We’ve lost one of the most important figures in the industry,” 94.7 The Block said in a social media post.

Mister Cee was a key player in the rap community. He was formerly Big Daddy Kane’s DJ and an executive producer on The Notorious B.I.G.’s groundbreaking 1994 debut, “Ready to Die.”

The New York native was also a radio personality on his hometown’s Hot 97. But he briefly quit his gig in 2013 after arrests in connection with soliciting prostitutes. Audio of one encounter surfaced online.