Mizell was born in Brooklyn, New York and moved to Queens at age 10 with his family. He played bass and drums in several garage bands prior to joining Run-D.M.C. On all of their albums he played keyboards, bass, and live drums in addition to his turntable work. Mizell remained in his childhood neighborhood his entire life. He founded the 'Scratch DJ Academy' in Manhattan for children interested in DJing. In 1989, Mizell established the label Jam Master Jay Records, which scored a strong success in 1993 with the band Onyx. He also connected Chuck D with Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin. (Def Jam's other founder, Russell Simmons, is the brother of Rev Run.) After achieving relative prominence, Jason was known to use the alias Jay Gambulos so as to avoid unwanted attention from the public. Jason is also related to the Mizell Brothers, a popular production team for Gary Bartz, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, and others. In the 1990s, Mizell survived a bad car accident and 2 gunshot wounds.

Death

On October 30, 2002, he was shot and killed in a Merrick Boulevard recording studio in Queens, New York. The other person in the room, 23-year-old Urieco Rincon, was shot in the ankle and survived.[1] The New York Daily News reported that authorities investigated whether Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a convicted drug dealer and longtime friend of Murder Inc. heads Irv Gotti and Chris Gotti, targeted 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. A 2003 affidavit says: "Law enforcement agents are investigating the possibility that [Jason] Mizell was murdered for defying the blacklist of 50 Cent." In April 2007, federal prosecutors named Ronald "Tenad" Washington as an accomplice in the murder of Mizell. Washington also is a suspect in the fatal shooting of Randy Walker in 1995, a close associate of the late rapper Tupac Shakur. For his part, Washington “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,” prosecutors said in court papers.

References

1. ^ village voice > news > Harry Allen remembers Jason Mizell, a/k/a Jam-Master Jay, Run-D.M.C.'s inimitable musical mastermind. by Harry Allen

External links

• Jam-Master Jay, 1965-2002, Salon, November 1, 2002
• Jam-Master Jay Killed in Shooting, SOHH: The Wire, October 31, 2002
• Run-DMC star, 37, was hip-hop pioneer, CNN, October 31, 2002
• 'Terrible loss': Hip-hop reacts to Jam-Master Jay slaying, CNN, October 31, 2002
• Run-DMC DJ slain in recording studio, CNN, October 31, 2002
• Remembering Jam Master Jay in the Midst of Chaos, Davey D's Hip-Hop Corner, October 31, 2002
• Interview with DJ Times, 2000
• Suspect named in Jam-Master Jay's death, MSNBC, April 17, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
• Suspect named in 2002 slaying of Jam-Master Jay, USA Today, April 18, 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2007.
• Jam-Master Jay, Witness Identifies Killer's Tattoo, HHL: News, November 5, 2007
• Jason Mizell at Discogs