ReMastered: Who Killed Jam Master Jay?

A lot of people feel like the police don't really care,

about murders within the urban communities.

But this should've been different.

This is a person who people idolize.

You're talkin' 'bout a man who's affected millions of people.

He was a larger-than-life figure, he was Jam Master Jay, ya know,

from the world famous Run-DMC group.

Run-DMC was like the Beatles.

They was the pioneers, the first to go platinum, the first on Rolling Stone,

they was the first of everything.

Groups within hip-hop would not be as popular and signature,

if it wasn't for Run-DMC and Jam Master Jay.

Jay was the one who made the beats, who kept the party going.

He's the one that hyped them up, spinnin' and cuttin'.

He really cut the records to heighten the poetry.

Jay was a one man band,

and he was the greatest that ever did it.

Jason William Mizell, AKA Jam Master Jay,

was gunned down last night.

Police say two men buzzed into Mizell's studio shot and killed--

Whoever was in the studio, at the time,

they are the only five that know who killed my brother.

We had 50, 60 different tips,

all takin' some totally different angles on what occurred.

There was a feeling that

the security cameras had been tampered with.

If I gotta go through every borough, every street, every block,

I'ma find out who killed Jay.

People feel like it's an inside job,

which is why they point back to the people who was within that studio.

Yes, there were a number of individuals, who would probably know,

exactly what happened, but...

you know the Tupac's and the Biggie Smalls'...

these are all unsolved crimes,

-and the feeling is that, -

...the police don't really care.

Urban communities, they don't trust the police at all.

What could he have done...

that make you want to erase him from the earth?

I'm having a hard time understanding why.

New York City on the verge of bankruptcy.

New York City got the word today, from President Ford,

"Default if you must,

but don't expect help from the Federal Government."

I am prepared to veto any bill,

that has as its purpose,

a federal bailout of New York City to prevent a default.

- -

If the Federal Government does not help us,

it will find the problem afterwards,

which it would have to help us with, much more serious.

Services in the city are being slashed.

Reports of violent crime are on the rise.

You know I can't walk in the streets no more 'cause I might get shot now.

Middle-class residents are fleeing to the suburbs,

while working class black families take their place in the boroughs.

Hollis, Queens was a lower middle class neighborhood.

People moved from the hood to Hollis.

Right? Seeking a better life.

I remember moving in,

and I remember the last white family on the block moving out within a week.

Hollis, probably was about one mile in each direction.

We was a little community.

We was one strip, we was one avenue,

but we had a global reputation, like Bed-Stuy do or die.

All the kids around the hood, that hung up on Hollis Avenue,

those kids became the Hollis Crew.

And Jay was in the center of the Hollis Crew.

Some of the names of the Hollis Crew members would, be Randy Allen.

Randy Allen was a friend of ours that grew up on two, third with us.

We all grew up on 203rd street and Jay was a part of that.

Big D, Big D was a good friend of mine.

We were like family, he's like my older brother.

Big D and Jay, they lived right across the street from each other.

Hurricane, right? DJ Hurricane.

If any problems would come,

from other people outside the neighborhood,

you know, then we would all form like Voltron...

and get together,

and protect the neighborhood.

As street as Jay was,

he was good.

He was kinda the peacekeeper,

you wouldn't get your money taken from you if Jay was around.

So you always hoped, when you went to the party Jay was there.

Drugs came to Hollis around 1984.

Fat Cat and Ken "Supreme" McGriff,

one of the notorious drug dealers in South Jamaica Queens,

and I was actually a part of Fat Cat's crew.

We started off by selling coke.

I made a ton of money at a young age, I was a part of something...

that it was like family!

And it felt good because, don't forget, half of us didn't have dads.

Mom having to work, leaving the kids to fend for themselves.

You know how they say, "An idle mind is the devil's workshop"? That's true.

The drug dealers on the corners was our friends, was our homies.

Those was our cousins, those was our brothers.

You know, but the police, was the guys who we knew,

who were going after them.

They were putting them in jail,

you know, they were trying to,

take their lives away from them.

Now I'm not saying that these individuals were innocent,

but it definitely, has always been looked upon,

like the police didn't help.

That was really just embedded in our minds,

you know, like, as early as when we was eight, nine years old.

They all went to jail from some dumb mess, you know?

They was out there, trying to make their money.

Selling drugs and whatever.

Jay's best friend Randy, was in jail for a long time.

But Jason never went to jail.

As a man, you don't never wanna disappoint your mother.

I never knew Jay to have a dad, but I think what made Jay successful,

was his mother's upbringing, you know? She was a teacher.

She taught.

That's what she did 24/7 taught him.

It showed through his work ethic.

- -

Jason was always a beautiful child.

He always loved the music.

If he got two pencils,

he was making sounds.

You know, he made music,

outta ordinary things, things that you didn't expect.

He had my pans.

He'd be beatin' a tune you know?

My brother knew how to play a guitar...

and I knew he was going to play the drums 'cause I've seen him play the drums.

I'd say he was about what, 13?

When he was doin' the turntable thing, learnin' how to DJ...

and break them tables,

my mother go right back and buy him another set.

You know? Constantly.

Around that time,

hip-hop kids created something that suited them.

They built their own music...

because they felt locked out.

Like the blues, and jazz, and rock and roll,

were expressions of people who felt like they weren't part of the culture.

Hip-hop was manufactured by,

the tools, that wasn't supplied to us.

We would have block parties, you know, plug our equipment into street lights.

There was just a way to get people together, to congregate,

and just to really have a good time and just to celebrate music.

Back then, rap music was on the uprise.

A lot of people might have, a couple of turntables and a mixer,

Jay was one of them. Jay liked to DJ, in his house.

Jay was really on point,

with stopping a record,

on a dime,

-and then bring it back in. -

No one is mistake-free, but he was very...

very little mistakes.

Everybody started in their house. 'Cause you wanna practice, you know?

Then you take it to the park.

Jamaica Park, is where all the parties went down.

Before we met Jay, Run was going to be a solo artist.

Run was a rapper and a DJ, before rap records happened.

'77, '78, he was the DJ son of Kurtis Blow.

He himself had been a DJ of course, DJ Run.

Me and Run made 'It's Like That' and 'Sucker MC's,'

our first record, without Jay.

Once we got the deal and the record started to get a little buzz,

it was time for us to go do live shows.

And Russell, Run's brother said,

"Y'all got to do these performances you'll need a DJ,"

and Run was like, "Woah, I didn't think about that part."

Run was tellin' me,

"We gonna have to do a show. What are we gonna do?"

I already had turntables and records,

and equipment already.

So, we just put together a little routine, couple of routines.

They made the song in '82, and we started moving early '83.

When we pulled up, to pick him up,

for our first show in New York City,

he came out his front door he had on, a black Run-DMC Godfather hat,

he had on a black Adidas jacket, with the three stripes,

he had on white Adidas Shell Toes, with the black stripe

and he had no laces in 'em,

and the tongues of the sneakers' was sticking up like tombstones.

Like it was sticking up in the air

and Russell had been telling us for weeks,

"Y'all need a wardrobe, y'all need a wardrobe."

Before Russell could utter it,

"Yo, there goes... Yo, that's our wardrobe."

So, from that day on, we had to actually go shopping with Jay.

If you look at the early days of Run and D,

they had on these plaid jackets with these turtlenecks and afros.

And then if you see it with Jay, everything changed.

Jay was very street and a lot of,

what is in that community, is the hood culture.

They were already wearing shell toes with no laces,

and backwards hats and, you know, all that stuff comes from jail.

So, that vibe,