OMG, RUN-DMC's Jam Master Jay is Dead :-( !!!!!

Hip hop performer Jam Master Jay, part of the pioneering rap trio Run DMC, is shown in this Feb. 25, 2002 file photo, in Los Angeles. Jam Master Jay was shot and killed Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2002 the group's publicist said.


Piddling around iwon.com at work tonight when I just came upon this story . . . .


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Jam Master Jay Dies in NYC Shooting


NEW YORK (AP) - Jam Master Jay, part of the pioneering rap trio Run DMC, was shot and killed Wednesday, the group's publicist said.

Publicist Tracy Miller confirmed the death of the 37-year-old rapper, whose real name was Jason Mizell.

A legal source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the rapper was shot in the head at a recording studio in the New York City borough of Queens. A second person was shot in the ankle and the shooter was at large, the source said.

Run DMC is widely credited with helping bring hip-hop into music's mainstream, including the group's smash collaboration with Aerosmith on the 1980s standard "Walk This Way."

"We always knew rap was for everyone," Mizell said in a 2001 interview with MTV. "Anyone could rap over all kinds of music."

"It wasn't the soulful R&B of the '70s and '80s," he said of the group's early work. "So we didn't want to be like the soft R&B. We wanted to go hardcore, so we put the rock-and-roll on our rap."

The trio released a greatest-hits album earlier this year. In 2001, the rappers produced Crown Royal, breaking an eight-year silence.

 

I couldn't believe it when I saw it. Run-DMC opened up the world of Rap to this middle class white boy. Run-DMC where one of the greats. They always tried to stay away for the gangsta lifestyle the other rappers got on. A shame indeed.

 

Yep, this one, too. Run D.M.C. was my introduction into the world of hip-hop in the late 80's. I got away from it when it turned into drugs and gang crap. DMC definitely 'rocked the house', and Jam Master J will be sorely missed.

 

You be illin'