Rapobit: MC Breed

The Michigan-born rapper MC Breed died yesterday.

Despite its almost cookie-cutter mid period rap sound, Breed was a genuine name - although his first name, Eric, wasn't such a perfect fit. His early work was as part of the DFC collective - nothing to do with the comic of the same name - but he went solo in 1992, starting a long run of albums which always threatened, but never quite, broke through into the mainstream. By the mid-90s, a run of three-digit chart peaks saw Breed losing a little momentum; the early years of this century saw him even failing to make the hip-hop charts. His last album was 2004's The New Prescription. The newest element was that Eric had dropped the MC from his name, but sadly, most people left the prescription untaken.

Breed had been hospitalised in September with kidney failure, but it had been believed his health was improving. Earlier this year, he'd been arrested for failure for to pay child support; the case had not been resolved before he was taken ill.