Jason William Mizell (January 21, 1965 – October 30, 2002), better known by his stage name Jam Master Jay, was an American musician and DJ. He was the DJ of the influential
hip hop group
Run-DMC
Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...
. During the 1980s, Run-DMC became one of the biggest hip hop groups and are credited with breaking hip hop into mainstream music.
[The Immortals – The Greatest Artists of All Time: 48) Run–DMC](_blank)
''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
''. Published April 15, 2004.
Early life
Jason Mizell was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York City,
the son of Jesse Mizell and Connie Thompson Mizell
(later Connie Mizell-Perry)
whose other children are Marvin L. Thompson and Bonita Jones.
At age three, Jason began playing trumpet. He learned to play bass, guitar, and drums. He performed at his church and in various bands prior to discovering
turntablism
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating new music, sound effects, mixes and other creative sounds and beats, typically by using two or more turntables and a cross fader-equipped DJ mixer. The mixer is plugged into a PA system ...
.
After he and his family moved to
Hollis, Queens
Hollis is a residential middle class, middle-class neighborhood within the southeastern section of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Queens. While a predominantly African-American community, there are small minorities of Hispa ...
, New York City, in 1975 at the age of 10, he discovered the turntables and started DJing at the age of 13.
He was high school friends with
Wendell "DJ Hurricane" Fite, known for his 13-year collaboration with
The Beastie Boys
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
.
As a teenager, Mizell was involved with a group that committed residential
burglaries
Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...
.
An encounter with an armed security guard frightened him into stopping the burglaries, and as an adult he was known for discouraging criminal activities among his friends and family.
For a time, he lived in
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497. , where turntablism pioneer DJ Def Lou Hauck
taught him to
crossfade.
He caught on quickly because of his musical experience and after a year of DJing he felt that he was good enough to play in front of people.
Originally calling himself Jazzy Jase, he attended high school at
Andrew Jackson High School in New York City's Queens.
Career
![Jam Master Jay](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Jam_Master_Jay.png)
He first started playing at parks and later played at bars. He also began throwing small parties around the area.
Once he got a pair of
Technics 1200s, he improved rapidly, since he was able to practice at night with headphones on when he was supposed to be sleeping.
Mizell became a DJ because he "just wanted to be a part of the band".
Prior to joining Run-D.M.C., he played bass and drums in several
garage bands
Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock and roll that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The sty ...
. In 1982, he joined
Joseph "Run" Simmons and
Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels just after they graduated from high school and agreed to DJ for them because he wanted to be part of the band.
On Run-D.M.C's album ''
Raising Hell'', Mizell played keyboards, bass, and live drums in addition to his turntable work.
Mizell remained in his childhood neighborhood in Hollis, Queens his entire life.
In 1989, Mizell established
Jam Master Jay Records
JMJ Records is an American record label which was founded in 1989 by Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay from Run-D.M.C. The label was relaunched in 2017 by Jam Master J'Son, the oldest son of the legendary Jam Master Jay. The label rele ...
. The label is most known for signing
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...
and
Onyx
Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The c ...
. Jam Master Jay Records folded after Jason Mizell was murdered on October 30, 2002.
Mizell's legacy includes the Scratch DJ Academy in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. Founded in 2002, the year of his death, the academy was created to "provide unparalleled education and access to the art form of the DJ and producer."
Personal life
Jam Master Jay was related to the
Mizell Brothers
The Mizell Brothers were an American record producing team in the 1970s, consisting of Larry Mizell (born February 17, 1944) and Alphonso "Fonce" Mizell (January 15, 1943 – July 5, 2011). They worked together on a string of jazz or R&B albums. ...
, a popular production team for
Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards.
Biography
Bartz studied at the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, he performed with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Works ...
,
Johnny "Hammond" Smith
John Robert "Johnny Hammond" Smith (December 16, 1933 – June 4, 1997) was an American soul jazz and hard bop organist. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he was a renowned player of the Hammond B-3 organ so earning "Hammond" as a nickname, wh ...
, and others.
On consecutive Christmas holidays, Mizell survived a car accident and a gunshot wound to the leg, respectively.
The car accident occurred in the early morning hours of December 26, 1987, in the
West Village
The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City.
The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, 14th Street (Manhattan ...
of Manhattan.
Jam Master Jay was the father of three sons: Jason Mizell Jr. (who performs as
DJ Jam Master J'Son
Jason William Mizell Jr. (born April 14, 1986), better known by his stage name DJ Jam Master J'Son, is an American musician, music producer, and Disc Jockey (DJ). He is the oldest son of deceased Run DMC DJ Jam Master Jay. He is currently the o ...
), Jesse Mizell, and TJ Mizell (also a DJ),
and a daughter, Tyra Myricks (born August 1992).
Death
On Wednesday, October 30, 2002, at 7:30 pm,
Mizell was fatally shot in New York City in his recording studio on
Merrick Boulevard
Merrick Road is an east–west urban arterial in Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk counties in New York, United States. It is known as Merrick Boulevard or Floyd H. Flake Boulevard in Queens, within New York City.
Merrick Road runs east from the Queens ...
in
Jamaica, Queens
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Springfi ...
. Another person in the room, 25-year-old Urieco Rincon, was shot in the ankle and survived.
Following Mizell's death, several artists expressed their grief for the loss in the hip hop community and remembered him for his influence on music and the genre.
Mizell was buried at
Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum
Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum is located at 280 Secor Road in the hamlet of Hartsdale, town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States, about north of Midtown Manhattan. It was founded in 1902, and is non-sectarian. Fernclif ...
in
Hartsdale, New York
Hartsdale is a hamlet located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,293 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of New York City.
History
Hartsdale, a CDP/hamlet/post-office in the town of Green ...
.
In 2003,
Kenneth McGriff, a convicted drug dealer and longtime friend of
Murder Inc. Records
Murder Inc. Records, LLC. (formerly The Inc. Records) is an American record label founded by brothers Chris and Irv Gotti in 1998. The label's flagship artist is Ja Rule. According to Chris Gotti, Murder Inc. had sold over 30 million units wo ...
founders Irving "
Irv Gotti
Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr. (born June 26, 1970), professionally known as Irv Gotti, is an American DJ, music producer, record executive, and the CEO and co-founder of Murder Inc. Records. He is best known for producing multiple number-one rec ...
" Lorenzo and his older brother Christopher, were investigated for targeting Mizell because the DJ defied an industry blacklist of rapper
50 Cent
Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and businessman. Born in the South Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 2000, when he produced ...
that was imposed because of "
Ghetto Qu'ran", a song 50 Cent wrote about McGriff's drug history.
In December 2003, ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother.
K ...
'' magazine published an article by investigative journalist Frank Owen, "The Last Days of Jam Master Jay", which traced the murder to a drug deal gone bad.
[Owen, Frank (2003)]
The Last Days of Jam Master Jay
fxowen.com Owen said he uncovered evidence Mizell, not normally involved in crime as an adult, had turned to
cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...
distribution to pay mounting bills. Mizell owed substantial debts to the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
, among others, after his music career stalled in the late 1990s. According to Owen, several sources indicated Mizell traveled to Washington, D.C., on July 31, 2002, to obtain of cocaine valued at about a quarter-million dollars from a trafficker known as "Uncle". Mizell reportedly agreed to pay for the drugs in about a week. However, Mizell failed to repay Uncle, who allegedly arranged to have Mizell murdered.
In April 2007, federal prosecutors named Ronald Washington as an accomplice in the murder.
Washington also is a suspect in the 1995 murder of
Randy "Stretch" Walker, a former close associate of rapper
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the Li ...
, who was also murdered.
According to court papers filed by the prosecution, Washington allegedly "pointed his gun at those present in the studio, ordered them to get on the ground and provided cover for his associate to shoot and kill Jason Mizell." However, he was never convicted.
In 2018,
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...
released a documentary analyzing the circumstances of his murder. ''
ReMastered: Who Killed Jam Master Jay?'', the third episode of Netflix's ''ReMastered'' music documentary series, interviews several of Mizell's friends, family members and acquaintances who share stories they have heard regarding suspects in his murder. The documentary does not come to a conclusion regarding who the murderer(s) are. Also in 2018, former prosecutor
Marcia Clark
Marcia Rachel Clark (' Kleks, formerly Horowitz; born August 31, 1953) is an American prosecutor, author, television correspondent and television producer. She is known for being the lead prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson murder case.
Early li ...
featured Jam Master Jay's murder in an episode of her series ''Marcia Clark Investigates The First 48'' on
A&E where she examined several scenarios and suspects for the murder. She spoke to former Run DMC road manager Darren "Big D" Jordan, who denied allegations of involvement made against him by Ronald Washington. Clark further interviewed Owen, who stood by his 2003 article as largely accurate and stated he did not know who shot Mizell but believed the murder was facilitated by Mizell's close friend Ronald Washington.
2020 arrests
In 2020, Ronald Washington and Karl Jordan Jr. were indicted for Mizell's murder. The indictment alleges that Mizell had recently acquired of cocaine from a distributor based in Maryland. Mizell, Washington, and Jordan had an agreement to sell the cocaine on consignment, but Mizell cut the two men out after a dispute. Washington had been considered a suspect very early in the investigation,
and Jordan had been charged in August 2003 with attempted murder after shooting Mizell's nephew, Rodney Jones, in the leg.
Washington and Jordan Jr. pleaded not guilty. In November 2021, it was announced that federal prosecutors would not seek the
death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
if they are convicted, and that prosecutors would instead seek
life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...
without the possibility of
parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
.
In October 2022, the trial was scheduled to begin on February 20, 2023.
[ Prosecutors assert that Jordan Jr. admitted to the crime in a conversation.]
See also
*List of unsolved murders
These lists of unsolved murders include notable cases where victims were murdered in unknown circumstances.
* List of unsolved murders (before 1900)
* List of unsolved murders (1900–1979)
* List of unsolved murders (1980–1999)
* List of u ...
References
External links
*
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{{Authority control
1965 births
2002 deaths
2002 murders in the United States
20th-century American male musicians
African-American DJs
African-American male rappers
American beatboxers
American murder victims
American hip hop DJs
Andrew Jackson High School (Queens) alumni
Burials at Ferncliff Cemetery
Deaths by firearm in Queens, New York
East Coast hip hop musicians
Male murder victims
Murdered African-American people
People from Hollis, Queens
People murdered in New York City
Rappers from Brooklyn
Run-DMC members
Unsolved murders in the United States