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 group representative Dave Goodsen. Police have confirmed that two men were shot inside a studio on Merrick Boulevard at 7:30 p.m. local time and say the victims have not been identified. According to police, one man was dead on arrival after being rushed to a local hospital. Representatives for Run-DMC claim the victim was Jam Master Jay, a.k.a. Jason Mizell. Police did not disclose the condition of the other victim. Right before the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards in August, Darryl McDaniels, a.k.a. Jay's longtime musical compatriot DMC, said that the Queens group was going to hit the studio and road for an album and tour in commemoration of their 20th anniversary (see "Run-DMC Plan Return To B-Boyism On Anniversary LP"). Run-DMC, who recently wrapped a tour with Kid Rock and Aerosmith, were scheduled to perform Thursday (October 31) as part of the half-time festivities at a Washington Wizards home game. MTV News will have more on this story as it develops.
Run-DMC was one of the few roups of that genre that I really enjoyed. I grew up listening to them. RIP
Sad news. He gave me a high-five during his concert in South Padre in my freshman year (99). One of the original gangsters, and true masters of rap.
That's horrible. I really liked their music even though I wasn't old enough to appreciate them in the 80s, but every song of there's I've heard was always really good. It's a shame there aren't more rap groups like Run DMC out there, these guys were pioneers of true hip hop. I hope they catch the b*stard(s) and we can find out why this happened. I'm guessing it was either robbery or maybe some wannabe rapper who got snubbed by them decided to take revenge.
Man, this really is sad. I grew up listening to Run DMC... these are the guys that slowly began bringing rap into mainstream music. Back when rap was something to jam to and have fun with... not get killed over or do a driveby to.
more: Run-DMC rapper slain in New York Jam Master Jay shot to death at recording studio in Queens By Michael E. Ross MSNBC Oct. 30 — Jam Master Jay, one of the stars of the groundbreaking rap group Run-DMC, was shot to death Wednesday night at a recording studio in New York City. The 37-year-old rapper, whose real name was Jason Mizell, was one of two men who were shot; he was pronounced dead at the scene. NEW YORK CITY police confirmed to MSNBC that two victims were shot inside the studio at 9010 Merrick Blvd., Queens, at about 7:30 p.m. ET. Mizell was shot in the head, police said. No arrests have been made at this time, and the investigation is ongoing, police said. The other victim survived and was transported to an area hospital, according to information from NBC affiliate WNBC. Run-DMC, formed in 1982 in Hollis, Queens, was one of the pioneer groups of rap music. After signing with a small label, Profile Records, for a meager advance of $2,500, the group — Mizell, Run (Joseph Simmons, brother of rap entrepreneur and Def Jam founder Russell Simmons), and D.M.C. (Darryl McDaniels) — scored an underground hit in 1983 with “It’s Like That.” That song and the B-side track, “Sucker MCs,” marked the group as one to watch. In the estimation of some critics, the B-side track almost single-handedly gave rise to one of rap’s most prevalent terms. Many critics consider the two tracks — with their spare, minimalist sound as performed by the trio, adorned in the track suits-and-Adidas fashions that would come to typify the “B-boy” fashion esthetic — as the first manifestation of modern hip hop. Run-D.M.C.’s 1984 eponymously titled first album became the first rap album to go gold. The group achieved early crossover success with its sound; one of its biggest hits was a remix of the Aerosmith rock song “Walk This Way,” in which both groups combined on the track to rowdy, raucous effect. Run-DMC’s crossover appeal would come to be confirmed in several ways: the group released the first rap video shown on MTV; it was the first rap group on “American Bandstand” and NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” and the first rap artists to appear on the cover of Rolling Stone. According to the band’s Web site, “Run’s House,” the group has sold more than 25 million records worldwide. Arista Records, Run-DMC’s label, had released a new compilation of the group’s greatest hits in September. The group had recently announced plans to tour with Aerosmith and Kid Rock. A new DVD was also in the works, originally slated for release in December.
Baqui99, no disrespect especially on this seriously sad time, but please do not associate Run DMC and the late Jam Master Jay as being "Original Gangstas" They rep nothing but the 5 elements which never included violence, thuggery, or any negative aspect of the so called "rap world". They were hip hop before hip hop was anything. RIP Jam Master Jay '02 Like I said I'm not tryin to start nothin, but they worked hard to be hip hop not gangsters....Hope ya feel me.
You're right...I can't recall anything in their music that even talked about the thug life or gangs or violence in any real sense.
NY Post October 31, 2002 -- Jam Master Jay, who helped pioneer hip-hop and rap music as a member of the hit group Run-DMC, was shot dead execution-style in Queens last night, police said. Jay - whose real name was Jason Mizell - was slain in the lounge of a second-floor recording studio at 90-10 Merrick Blvd. in Jamaica. Mizell, 37, and another man, Urieco Rincon, 25, were among five or six people in the studio helping record music by two unidentified women, said a police source. Suddenly, one or two suspects walked into the lounge; witnesses were unsure how many. The shooter pushed one of the singers out of the way so he could get a clear shot at Mizell, said the source. Mizell was shot in the head at point-blank range, the source said. Rincon was hit twice in the leg, said cops. He was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital, and his wounds were not considered life-threatening. Rincon may have been hit by ricocheting bullets, said a police source. Two .45-caliber shell casings were found at the scene. Some of those in the studio alerted police by running to the nearby 103rd Precinct station house. The witnesses described the shooter as a young black man, wearing a white jumpsuit or sweatsuit, a cop source said. After the shooting, dozens of other rappers and their fans gathered outside the studio building to mourn Mizell. Run-DMC brought rap to the mainstream, said Chuck D of Public Enemy. "They were our Beatles," he said. Rapper Ed Lover, a DJ on WWPR-FM/105.1, who came to the scene, said, "It's a tragedy for our music. It's a tragedy for our neighborhood." Run-DMC's other members -Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels - were studying mortuary science in the early 1980s when they started the group with Mizell. They hit the charts in 1983 with the single "It's Like That." Their 1986 album, "Raising Hell," featured "Walk This Way," which was performed as a duet with rock legends Aerosmith. "Raising Hell" was the first rap album to sell more than a million copies and crack Billboard's Top 10. The group has many other firsts: First rap group on the cover of Rolling Stone, first rappers on MTV, "Saturday Night Live" and "American Bandstand," and the first rap group nominated for a Grammy. By the early 1990s, Run-DMC had faded. A 1993 album was billed as "Christian with an attitude." They tried a revival last year with a crossover album called "Crown Royal." And in September, the group released a greatest-hits album. Chuck D said last night that Run-DMC didn't get enough respect from current rappers - and griped that at this year's MTV Video Music Awards, top artists "weren't giving them the time of day." "Back when we started, you couldn't even hear rap on the radio," Mizell told The Register of Orange County, Calif., last year. "We've helped bring it where it is now, which is everywhere."
