Jam Master Jay

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.

After he and his family moved to Hollis, Queens, 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.

As a teenager, Mizell was involved with a group that committed residential burglaries.

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, 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.

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.

During the 1980s, Run-DMC became one of the biggest hip hop groups and are credited with breaking hip hop into mainstream music.

Jason Mizell was born in Brooklyn, 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.

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.

The car accident occurred in the early morning hours of December 26, 1987, in the West Village of Manhattan.

Though he and other Run DMC members were known for promoting anti-drug messages, including appearing in an anti-drug public service announcement, holding anti-drug shows, and even on their 1987 song "It's Tricky", prosecutors in his murder case alleged Mizell later got involved in dealing high-kilo cocaine in 1996.

However, despite revelations of getting involved in drug dealing, Mizell's family still maintained that he did not use drugs.

In 1989, Mizell established Jam Master Jay Records.

The label is most known for signing 50 Cent and Onyx.

Jam Master Jay was the father of three sons: Jason Mizell Jr. (who performs as DJ Jam Master J'Son), Jesse Mizell, and TJ Mizell (also a DJ), and a daughter, Tyra Myricks (born August 1992).

Jam Master Jay Records folded after Jason Mizell was murdered on October 30, 2002.

Mizell's legacy includes the Scratch DJ Academy in Manhattan.

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."

Jam Master Jay was related to the Mizell Brothers, a popular production team for Gary Bartz, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, and others.

On consecutive Christmas holidays, Mizell survived a car accident and a gunshot wound to the leg, respectively.

On Wednesday, October 30, 2002, at 7:30 pm, Mizell was fatally shot in New York City in his recording studio on Merrick Boulevard in Jamaica, Queens.

Another person in the room, 25-year-old Uriel 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 in Hartsdale, New York.

In 2003, Kenneth McGriff, a convicted drug dealer and longtime friend of Murder Inc. Records founders Irving "Irv Gotti" Lorenzo and his older brother Christopher, were investigated for targeting Mizell because the DJ defied an industry blacklist of rapper 50 Cent that was imposed because of "Ghetto Qu'ran", a song 50 Cent wrote about McGriff's drug history.

In December 2003, Playboy 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 said he uncovered evidence Mizell, not normally involved in crime as an adult, had turned to cocaine distribution to pay mounting bills.