Before Puff Daddy, before Heavy D, before even Easy Mo Bee, it was DJ Mister Cee who took musical interest in a young Christopher Wallace. Mister Cee was a Brooklyn big-shot back in 1992, known as a fixture for DJ’ing and producing for Big Daddy Kane and others, as part of one of Hip-Hop’s most revered live shows.

Down with local Bedford-Stuyvesant mixmaster DJ 50 Grand, Biggie Smalls got to work on a demo in the same year that Dr. Dre would release The Chronic. In time, Cee heard those early recordings, and began recording and producing B.I.G., before bringing the demo tapes to Sean “Puffy” Combs, who was in his final days at Uptown Records. Upon hearing Big, as well as EPMD affiliate Craig Mack, Puff assembled his would-be Bad Boy Records roster, and the rest was history. Upon the release on 1994’s Ready To Die, Cee was among the executive producers.

Less involved with production 20 years later, Mister Cee is now known for making the mid-days move at HOT 97. The DJ’s celebratory playlists are acclaimed in their on-the-spot narrative way, presenting artists’ catalogs through a DJ’s scope. Far from his first mix, Cee honored B.I.G.’s born day today with a special mix. Tragically murdered on March 9, 1997, Christopher Wallace would have turned 42 years old today.

Related: Mister Cee Opens Up To GQ, Says That Biggie Smalls Would Have Stood By Him