A trial in Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay's 2002 killing is starting, and testing his anti-drug image

(28 Jan 2024)


ASSOCIATED PRESS
++4:3 MATERIAL++
Los Angeles - 25 February 2002
1. Various: Run-D.M.C. at Guitar Center
2. Various: Run-D.M.C. getting hands imprinted in cement
3. Group posing for photographs

ASSOCIATED PRESS
++4:3 MATERIAL++
Chicago - 17 June 1999
4. Run-D.M.C. pose for pictures (Jam Master Jay on right, white t-shirt) at Tibetan benefit concert

ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York - 23 October 2002
5. Front cover of The New York Daily News
6. Front cover of The Source magazine

ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York - 7 October 1986
7. STILL IMAGE: Run-D.M.C.'s Jason Mizell, known as Jam-Master Jay, posing during an anti-drug rally at Madison Square Garden

ASSOCIATED PRESS
New York - 2 March 1988
8. STILL IMAGE: Rap group Run-D.M.C., from left, Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, and Jason Mizell "Jam Master Jay," posing at the 31st annual Grammy Awards
STORYLINE:
For almost two decades, the 2002 killing of Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay stood as one of the hip-hop world’s most infamous and elusive crimes, one of three long-unsolved slayings of major rap stars.

Now Jay’s case is the first of those killings to go to trial. Opening statements are set for Monday in the federal murder trial of Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington, who were arrested in 2020.

“A brazen act,” then-Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme said at the time, “has finally caught up with them.”

Washington and Jordan are accused of gunning down Jay in his recording studio over a drug dispute, a prosecution narrative challenging the public understanding of a DJ known for his anti-drug advocacy. They have pleaded not guilty, as has a third defendant who was charged this past May and will be tried separately.

Jay, born Jason Mizell, formed Run-DMC in the early 1980s with Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Joseph Simmons, known as DJ Run and Rev. Run. Together, the hat-wearing, Adidas-loving friends from the Hollis section of Queens built a rap juggernaut that helped the young genre go mainstream.

They were the first rappers with gold and platinum albums and a Rolling Stone cover. They were the first hip-hop group with a video on MTV, where their subsequent 1986 collaboration with Aerosmith on the classic rockers' “Walk This Way” would bust through a wall between rap and rock, literally doing so in the accompanying music video. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.

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

Embracing rock sounds, rap wordplay and New York attitude, Run-DMC notched hits talking about things ranging from their fame to people's foibles, including perhaps the only top-100 reference to somebody accidentally eating dog food.

The group also made clear where they stood on drugs and crime.

“We are not thugs, we don’t use drugs,” they declared on the platinum-selling 1987 single “It's Tricky.” The group did an anti-drug public service announcement and shows, called for a day of peace between warring Los Angeles gangs, established scholarships and held voter registration drives at concerts.

Along the way, Jay opened a 24/7 studio in Hollis and a label, mentoring up-and-comers including 50 Cent.


More than $60,000 in rewards were offered for information on Jay’s death. Theories abounded. Police received enough tips to fill 34 pages, according to a court filing. But the investigation languished as investigators said they ran up against reluctant witnesses.
















===========================================================


Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e84ecaf1ec1545119b4971e14e37f2a4