Jam Master Jay of RUN-DMC

[Gina1201]

This is from mtv.com:

NEW YORK — Legendary hip-hop DJ Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC was shot and killed in Queens on Wednesday (October 30), according to police.

Authorities confirmed that Jay, born Jason Mizell, was fatally shot inside a studio on Merrick Boulevard at 7:30 p.m. local time. Another victim, Urieco Rincon, was shot in the leg. Rincon, 25, is listed in stable condition at an area hospital.
Around 9 p.m., during a concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in Manhattan, fellow hip-hop icon Big Daddy Kane informed spectators that he just had gotten word that "something happened" to Jay, though he did not know at the time if it was true. He then went on to pay homage to deceased rap greats Tupac Shakur, Freaky Tah, Notorious B.I.G., Big Punisher and Big L.

A few blocks away, at the opening of Russell Simmons' "Def Poetry Jam," the media mogul was visibly distraught.

"We'll never have a band," Simmons' brother, Run, said in a 1988 interview before pointing to Jay, his one-man sound machine. "That's our band." (Click for photos from Jam Master Jay's career.)

"Such a good person," Funkmaster Flex said of Jay on his radio show Wednesday night. "Sometimes when we talk about people passing away, sometimes you forget to say you miss a good person. ... For us who knew Jay and other artists who knew Jay, [he] may be one of the few people who embraced things that are new, from artists to DJs. He's one of the
people from the early '80s who has a relationship with a lot of artists [from the old school and new school]."

"If you love this hip-hop thing like I love this hip-hop thing, it's a sad day," Big Daddy Kane's longtime DJ, Mr. Cee, urged as he fought back
tears throughout Flex's show. "This has to stop, not just in hip-hop, but all over. This violence is just crazy. It's unreal."

"Hip-hop has to take a moment to recognize that we lost one of the gurus of the game," wrote Farai, 22, of Indianapolis to MTV News' You Tell Us
forum.

"I just loved the fact that while he was dropping the craziest hardcore heart poundin' beats, that classic smile never left his face," wrote Matt, 32, from Boston. "God bless you, Jay." (Click for more fan remembrances in You Tell Us.)

For close to 20 years, Jam Master Jay, Run (Joseph Simmons) and DMC (Darryl McDaniels) have been touching the lives of multitudes of fans who include their peers and associates in the music industry. Their brash b-boy style introduced hip-hop to the MTV audience with classic clips
such as "Rock Box," "King of Rock" and "Walk This Way," which also resuscitated Aerosmith's careers.

"That's Run-DMC's mission," DMC said in a 1988 interview. "Let everyone know this is music. It's the most exciting form, the most educational, the most vivid and visual."

It wasn't just the swinging gold chains, the Adidas sneakers or the black jogging and leather suits. Fans fell in love with Run's sheer audacity and charisma, DMC's depth and strength and the Jam Master's skills. His scratching and mixing exhibitions on songs such as "Jam Master Jay,"
"Sucker MCs" and "Peter Piper" (which Missy Elliott uses a portion of on her latest single, "Work It") were as influential on future turntablists as Run and DMC's raps were on the MCs who followed in their footsteps.

"Run-DMC's 'Rock Box' — that record, right there, slammed the whole industry," KRS-One said in the late '80s.

"Run-DMC definitely made me feel rap was here to stay," Big Daddy Kane concurred of his peers' pioneering.

More recently, Ice Cube praised the trio. "They're the Rolling Stones of the rap game," he said. "They're pioneers. Run-DMC made rap emerge out of hip-hop to be the signature art."

"They took hip-hop to a level that I don't think nobody's ever taken it to to this day," Eminem marveled of their spot in the hip-hop annals.
"[Nobody] ever could take it further than they took it."

Jay, Run and DMC, who were immortalized on Hollywood's Rock Walk earlier this year, also served as reference points for any hip-hop stars
thinking of making a move to the big screen. They starred in the cult classic "Krush Groove" in 1985 and the blueprint 'hood flick "Tougher Than Leather" in 1988.

Outside of the group, Jay always had his ear to the street, signing Onyx to his JMJ Records imprint and helping to produce their multi-platinum debut, 1993's Bacdaf--up. Years later, Jay wouldn't have to travel out of his native borough of Queens to discover another act who would go on to set the streets ablaze — 50 Cent spent time under Jay's wing, at one
point recording 36 songs in 18 days, before eventually making the move to the Trackmasters' camp and subsequently landing in the Shady/Aftermath Records fold.

Run-DMC recently wrapped a tour with Kid Rock and Aerosmith and were scheduled to perform Thursday (October 31) as part of the half-time
festivities at a Washington Wizards home game.

Aside from the Kid Rock/Aerosmith tour, Run-DMC were keeping visible with a handful of TV appearances, including August's 2002 MTV Video Music Awards. According to DMC, the trio were planning to return to the studio and work on their eighth album, the first since last year's Crown Royal. The release of the LP and its supporting tour would've coincided with their 20th anniversary (see "Run-DMC Plan Return To B-Boyism On Anniversary LP")

[Love_Spell_6]

In think what' s bothering me about this is how the media is handling it. The media is portraying this as another rapper gunned down...like his lifestyle had something to do with the fact that he was killed. While this may have been the case with Tupac and Biggie, if anyone followed RUN-DMC they know this was not the case. The media even tried to bring freaky -ty in this! (of the Lost Boys)..

I guess that's what happens when you don't have anyone that reports from our perspective.

THe whole thing seems strange though...how people are saying they didn't see anything. IF he buzzed the guy in....wasn't there a camera??

[Gina1201]

This also seemed strange to me Love_Spell. How is there no tape from the security camera, assuming that there is one? Also how is it that there was another man in the studio with him at the time and he was only shot in the ankle? I know Run-DMC has never been in ANY of the recent hip hop beef and it's sad that the media has not been doing correct research on his life.

[kiml122]

Ok, I heard yesterday that Jay knew the person or persons that were buzzed in to the studio. It was also said that Jay may have owed someone money, it was reported that he also had troble with the IRS as well with oweing them $500k.

I said this before, but I am not sure which message board it was on. On 106th and Park last week, Redman called in, and he made a statement about knowing who your friends are, and be very careful of who you think is a friend. I found that odd that he would say that, and now after hearing other things, I'm thinking that this person that shot Jay was or could have been a friend of his. I know one thing, he must have known him in order to get buzzzed in to the studio. Just something to think about.

[DELTABRAT]

What's up with this?



RAP AMBASSADOR'S REPUTATION SOILED

Newspaper says JMJ was trying to purchase cocaine

in deal gone bad.



*Many important figures in the Hip-Hop community

have banded together to celebrate the life and times of

Jam Master Jay. They call upon his nonviolent stance

and his positive activism, but a recent report in the New

York Post paints a different picture. The article, published

on Sunday, states that Curtis Scoon, the NYPD's main

suspect, and Jay went into a deal to purchase drugs from

a Los Angeles based supplier and were ripped off. This

allegedly, is what caused a rift between the two.

According to the Post, the police have a theory that

claims Scoon and Jay each paid $15,000 to buy 2 kilos of

cocaine. After the money was raised, the dealers are said

to have split with the money. The sources said that Jay had

never dabbled in drug dealing before and that his inexperience

led to the two being scammed out of the drugs and the money.

According to Allhiphop.com, the men in the studio

knew Jay was about to be killed that evening and that the

lookout, a man named Tenard, alerted the shooter to Jay's

arrival. The men in the studio have refused to submit to

police questioning and will not reveal what information

they know, according to reports.

[Gina1201]

NEW YORK — An investigator on the Jam Master Jay case said Thursday (June 19) that police are now looking into whether the DJ/producer's longtime friend Randy Allen, a.k.a. MDR of the group Rusty
Waters, was involved in the murder.

Innuendo about Allen and his sister Lydia's possible involvement was aired in public last month when the hip-hop legend's mother was interviewed by the New York Daily News. She said she was upset because she had not heard from
Allen since her son's slaying and because Allen had not been cooperating with the police.

"That hurts me more than words will ever say," she told the paper. "All of these years, Jason [Mizell, (Jay's real name)] and Randy have been
friends. We were all as close as close can be, and I haven't seen Randy since my Jason was killed. You're his friend for 20 years and you don't want to talk to the police about what happened? You don't come to my house after he died? You want to say you don't know anything?"

Last year police gave no credence to published reports claiming that Allen, who raps with Jay's nephew Boe Skags in Rusty Waters, had anything to do with killing. One theory said that the rapper wanted to kill his record-spinning friend to collect an insurance policy on Jay's life.

Allen professed his innocence to MTV News late last year. "It took me for a spin," he said. "That's the meanest thing you can do to somebody,
to say that their best friend is involved with something like that. On the radio yesterday they said I was in jail. We make records, man. We're not into life insurance and sh-- like that. That's not a part of none of nobody in my clique. We don't go around worrying about things like that. It's all crazy. The part of it that hurts me the most is that's just some made up sh--. I don't know why somebody would do that."

On Thursday the investigator on the JMJ case also dismissed a report that came out in New York's Newsday this week. The article painted a picture of a deadly love triangle between Jay, his wife, Terri Corley-Mizell, and Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, whom federal investigators have recently linked to money-laundering scandal involving
Murder Inc. Records.

Newsday's report said that according to police and music-industry sources, investigators were looking into whether Terri and McGriff were romantically involved and, if so, whether their relationship caused a rift between Jay and McGriff that led to the Run-DMC DJ being murdered.

A source close to the Mizell family told MTV News on Thursday that the family thinks the story is just a smokescreen to throw police off the trail
of the real killers.

Jam Master Jay was killed at his Queens studio on October 30. Police continue to follow leads, and they emphasize that the only way for them to solve the case is for witnesses or people with information about the crime to come forward.
So far, they said, that hasn't been happening.

—Shaheem Reid

[RedefinedDiva]

Originally posted by Gina1201
NEW YORK — An investigator on the Jam Master Jay case said Thursday (June 19) that police are now looking into whether the DJ/producer's longtime friend Randy Allen, a.k.a. MDR of the group Rusty
Waters, was involved in the murder.

It's sad when you have to be scared of the people close to you....