MC Breed
6/12/71 –- 11/22/08
By David Friedman
from Murder Dog vol 16 #1
MC Breed died in his sleep on Nov. 22, 2008 at age 37, following being
hospitalized for kidney failure. With deep sadness and regret we say
goodbye to this legendary Midwest musical pioneer, and internationally
acclaimed and respected artist. From 1991 to 1996, Flint rapper Eric
T. 
Breed, better known as MC Breed to his fans, released six studio albums,
which all charted in the U.S. Hip-Hop Top 40. Among them were his debut,
“MC Breed & DFC,” which included his all-time classic, “Ain’t No
Future In Yo Frontin,” and 1993’s “The New Breed,” which featured “Gotta
Get Mine” with Tupac Shakur. The latter reached No. 6 on the Hot Rap
Singles chart. But it wasn’t top-charting albums like 1994’s “Funkafied”
and 1995’s “Big Baller” – alone – that defined MC Breed’s storied career.
A talented and consistent performer, he was known to his closest associates,
family and peers as being incredibly humble and down to earth – despite
having a resume that includes having worked with such fellow hip-hop
luminaries as Too $hort, The D.O.C., Jazze Pha, The Dayton Family, Ant
Banks, Spice 1, Pimp C and Esham – as well as with godfather of funk
George Clinton.
One of my favorite albums by MC Breed –– was his second to last studio
release, 2001’s “The Fharmacist.” It’s also one of the favorites of one
of Breed’s biggest fans and dearest friends, Darryl Morris of Vanglorious
Entertainment. Morris and his wife, Lisa, managed Breed’s career from
2000 until his untimely death.
“It was kind of all of a sudden,” Darryl Morris said of Breed’s kidney
condition. “It wasn’t that he was sick for a couple of days or for a
month or two. He went to the gym and collapsed. When that happened, they
rushed him to the hospital. He was in Atlanta. Before you knew it, he
said he was having complications. Basically, his kidneys had shut down.
He was in critical condition. That’s what they were saying. That was
back in September.”
Following Breed’s release, the rapper believed he was doing better.
“At some point, he had needed to get started on dialysis and whatnot,
but the doctor had given him a warning basically that if he don’t stop
doing a lot of the regular stuff he was doing – eating some of the kinds
of foods he was doing – then it could cost him his life,” Morris said.
“I’m not sure what he ate or what happened, but it seems like that’s
when he went bad. Breed was trying to eat and live healthier, Morris
explained.
“He had stopped doing a lot of stuff and basically turned over a new
leaf,” Morris said. “I mean, he didn’t even smoke anymore. A lot of the
stuff he did, he didn’t do anymore. And he seemed perfectly fine, normal.
And as far as the foods, it seemed that he was eating as healthy as he
possibly could. And then, man, somewhere right around Nov. 15 or 20,
he seemed kind of sluggish. But I didn’t think that meant anything. It
just seemed that it came all of a sudden and just stopped on him.”
Breed died in Flint, Mich., at Morris’ home. Morris had built a loft
over his garage and turned it into an apartment for Breed, who was to
head to Atlanta with Morris to meet with 404 Music to discuss a deal
for a forthcoming album. According to Morris, the album, tentatively
titled “Swag Heavy,” is likely to come out on 404 Music still. Breed
had also been working with a group called Boss Status, comprised of four
18-year-old rappers – Zelio, Relly, Young J and Money.
“He was developing that group and grooming them to put them out simultaneously
with his project,” Morris said.
Meanwhile, “Swag Heavy” has been completed and its lead single will be
coming out in May or June.
Morris initially met Breed in the early 1990s. At the time, in 1992 or
’93, Morris was promoting concerts and doing car shows. He paid Breed
to be among a number of performers playing live at a showcase at a large
venue called The Pavilion in Inkster, Michigan. Morris had always wanted
to manage Breed, in part because he was a Michigan legend.
“Breed has always had that Midwest, underground, yet personal way about
himself,” Morris said. “To get to know him is to know someone that you’ve
been around forever. He’s never been on the celebrity status. Everything
about him was so funky and so down to earth that before I got a chance
to manage him, it was a dream for me. It was a dream come true when I
finally did connect up with him. He’s always had that personal way about
himself and that down to earth way about himself and grassroots way.
He’s always kept his ear all the way to the ground. He’s never ever allowed
himself to get up higher than that.
“He’s always made it very clear to me that he wanted to stay humble,”
Morris added. “And he never wanted to get to the point where people looked
at him as a huge star – like a P. Diddy. Nothing bad about him,
but he never wanted to be looked at that way. He’s always just wanted
to keep it 100 percent real with people and keep it very personal. He’s
never even allowed me to give him security. The closest thing he got
to security was myself and any other of the brothers that were rolling
with us on the road.”
Initially, Morris was looking forward to managing a big star, a person
who was always in the limelight and, in many ways, untouchable. But he
quickly grew to appreciate Breed for his much more humble qualities.
“Dealing with him was different because he was able to handle a lot of
stuff himself,” Morris said. “That he did do. So basically, all I really
had to do was always be present and present myself as his manager. He
taught me a lot when I started managing him. It was a whole lot like
he was pretty much kind of managing himself and I was kind of his assistant
or even his road manager, if you will, because he knows the business
inside and out. He’s done stuff with 2Pac, he’s done stuff with Too $hort,
he’s done stuff with Erick Sermon, Ice Cube, Yukmouth, I mean everybody
you can think of in the business.
“Being on the road with him and doing a lot of the stuff I’ve done with
him gave me experience above and beyond anything that you could ever
imagine,” Morris added. “I mean, imagine D.O.C. calling us up and being
like, ‘Come on down and just relax with us and just chill.’ I mean, we
went to Texas and there we are with The D.O.C. when I first started working
with him. And I was like, ‘Wow, this is not happening!’ And to this day,
in fact just before he had passed, we had went and visited The D.O.C.
at his crib and shot a video when we were in L.A.”
Like many fans and associates of MC Breed, Morris considers the rapper’s
debut album, “MC Breed & DFC,” to be his finest work.
“My favorite one is the first one, the one with ‘Ain’t No Future In Yo
Frontin’ on it,” Morris said. “He’s had many great ones, but that was
my favorite. That one, it was the sound. I mean, that song was a classic.
It will always be a classic. I believe the track that was used on that
came from the Ohio Players. And that had a lot to do with the whole old-school
sound. And so what happened with that is it carried over into the years,
so even as an artist, he still has that old-school sound. And he’s actually
carried that old-school era. People will always love that track no matter
what. And then that ‘Gotta Get Mine (Gotta Get Yours)’ with 2Pac – now
that’s another one that people love all over the country. No matter what,
he’s done those two songs every show we’ve done.”
Still, Morris added, Breed’s later work – especially “The Fharmacist”
LP – showcased an emcee who was perhaps more on top of his game than
ever before.
“He started to really get very hungry – I mean, hungry all over again,”
Morris said. “For me, I started to see an MC Breed that it was kind of
weird – it was like he was developing himself all over again. And I remember
him saying in an interview – and you’ll get a chance to see some of that
footage too because that’s being put out with the album – he said on
there that you have to reinvent yourself. And he’s right. One of the
things that he hated the most is how music is right now. He said, ‘I
vow to change what music is like right now.’ That’s basically what he
was doing – diligently working on putting out new music that was real
rap, real hip-hop. And that’s what he has right now. When this new project
comes out, you’ll see what I’m saying.”
In fact, MC Breed had “tons” of recordings that hadn’t come out yet.
Morris said there’s “a very good possibility” that these songs will come
out eventually. Breed, who performed lots of underground club shows and
private events late into his career, is survived by his five children,
Kiara Monique, 18, Erica Ariel, 16, Alexis Cymone, 14, Marco “MC” Chene,
9, and Eric Jalen, 1. He is also survived by his parents, Roy LeEster
and Willie Breed; brothers Pete and Kevin Breed; sister Bridgette Breed;
his soul mate, Natasha Gist; nieces, nephews and friends.
Among the celebrities who joined family and other friends at MC Breed’s
funeral held at Flint’s House of Prayer Missionary Baptist Church were
Jazze Pha, The D.O.C. and the Dayton Family. Morris said in addition
to the “Swag Heavy” album and DVD, the Boss Status group and moving forward
with Breed’s plans for his The Original Breed clothing line, he plans
to makes sure Breed’s children are taken care of through a trust fund.
“He was a very, very, very dedicated person,” Morris said. “He was very
dedicated to his family. One thing that people really need to know is that
he was very happy when he passed. He was very content, very excited about what
was about to happen. For a while before that, he was down and out and he was
struggling to get there. But he had reached a point where he had contacted
his old label Ichiban and he got a boost of energy and a lot of positive, good
things came from them and helped him really get content and move on to the
other level. So he was very happy.”
