‘ReMastered: Who Killed Jam Master Jay?’ on Netflix Examines Murder Of Renowned Run-D.M.C. DJ

Since the 1987 shooting death of Boogie Down Productions DJ Scott La Rock, nearly 40 hip hop musicians have been murdered. The back to back murders of Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. are the most famous, while the killing of 20-year-old multi-platinum rapper XXXTentacion this summer isn’t even the most recent. Sadly, many of these murders remain unsolved. Among them is the 2002 killing of Jason Mizell, better known as Jam Master Jay, DJ for groundbreaking hip hop group Run-D.M.C. Netflix‘s music documentary series ReMastered attempts to take a fresh look at the case in its latest episode, “Who Killed Jam Master Jay?”

The episode begins on the streets of South Jamaica, Queens, A.K.A. “Southside,” where on the night of October 30, 2002, two men were buzzed into Mizell’s recording studio. After a brief argument, Mizell was fatally shot, while his driver, Tony Rincon, suffered a non-life threatening gunshot wound to his ankle. Mizell was just 37-years-old, but had already done much in his life to change the course of popular music.

Run-D.M.C. were hip hop’s first superstars and the first rap group to crossover into the musical mainstream. Before them, MC’s mostly rapped over backing tracks that sounded like the disco of the day. Run-D.M.C. stripped hip hop down to its essentials, often little more than rhymes and a funky ass beat, evoking the genre’s park jam roots. It was a sound so stark it hit you with the same intensity as rock, in fact, I remember thinking they were a rock band the first time I heard “Sucker M.C.’s” blasting out of a boombox in the spring of ’83.

Unlike hip hop’s South Bronx pioneers, the members of Run-D.M.C. proudly hailed from the black middle class enclave of Hollis, Queens. They were members of a loose assemblage of neighborhood kids known as The Hollis Crew, which also included early Beastie Boys DJ Hurricane. Mizell gave Run-D.M.C. much of its street authenticity, and according to rapper D.M.C., was the source of their distinctive look; Fedora hats with the brims turned up, black denim jeans and leather jackets, and shell-toe Adidas with the laces removed.

Though Hollis was considered a step up from roughneck South Jamaica, the dangers of the streets were never far away. At the same time Run-D.M.C. were breaking down the barriers for hip hop, crack cocaine was making millionaires out of young men and wreaking havoc on urban communities. Just down Jamaica Ave., Lorenzo “Fat Cat” Nichols and Kenneth “Supreme” McGriff ran drug gangs which employed those members of The Hollis Crew not already working for their friends in Run-D.M.C.

By the 1990s with a new generation of rappers waiting for their turn, Run-D.M.C.’s fortunes started to fade. Mizell turned his talents to producing and management, helping the careers of Onyx and 50 Cent. On the night of his murder, he was in the studio with the group Rusty Waters, which featured childhood friend and Hollis Crew member Randy Allen. Allen’s sister Lydia High was working the front door as the studio’s receptionist when she claims two masked men walked in before gunshots rang out and Jam Master Jay took his last breath.

In the aftermath of Mizell’s murder, the streets buzzed with various conspiracy theories but little progress seemed to be made action on the part of law enforcement. Among those blamed for the killing were Kenneth McGriff, other players in the Southside drug trade, as well as Mizell’s friends and protégés. Hollis native Rahman Dukes, then working for MTV News, began his own investigation of the case, determined to make sure Mizell’s murder didn’t become “another unsolved hip hop crime.”

Dukes soon discovered Mizell owed substantial back taxes and was struggling to keep financially afloat, a situation exacerbated by the large retinue of family and friends he was supporting. Without spoiling the episode, the more sensational suspects quickly fell by the wayside. McGriff, speaking from prison where he is serving a life sentence, dismissed the notion of his involvement as, “a lot of crazy rumors and ghetto gossip.” Dukes began focusing on a shortlist of former Hollis Crew members, none of whom have ever been arrested for charges related to Mizell’s murder.

As with all episode of ReMastered, “Who Killed Jam Master Jay?” is interesting and well produced, but falls short as the investigative music journalism it aspires to be. While it’s eventually revealed a Mizell associate was implicated in the murder, he isn’t interviewed and other suspects are then mentioned, confusing matters. While much is made of the NYPD’s perceived indifference to the case, the handful of people in the studio at the time of the murder have never been willing to go on record about what they saw that night. Without any input from the NYPD, who refused to participate in the episode, the episode ends with no answer in sight, only questions and a lingering sense of loss.

Benjamin H. Smith is a New York based writer, producer and musician. Follow him on Twitter:@BHSmithNYC.

Watch ReMastered: Who Killed Jam Master Jay? on Netflix