opening of the trial in New York, 20 years after the facts

Jam Master Jay of the New York rap group Run-DMC was shot in the head in his own recording studio in October 2002. His murder was never solved and the trial of two suspects which has just started could help to see things more clearly.

His shooting death on October 30, 2002 in his New York recording studio, at the age of 37, was a shock to the rap world: Jam Master Jay, co-founder, producer and DJ of the legendary trio Run- DMC, had been shot dead in the context of a drug affair. The trial for this murder finally opened on Monday January 22, 2024, more than twenty years after the events.

In the dock, two men: Ronald Washington, 59, and Karl Jordan Jr, 40, charged with homicide. They appeared in New York federal court, which began Monday with jury selection before the case is heard. A jury which will remain anonymous. The trial itself is scheduled to begin on January 29.

A resale of cocaine that would have gone wrong

The murder remained unsolved for two decades, before the announcement in August 2022 by prosecutors of the indictment of these two men, also prosecuted for drug trafficking. According to their theory, the murder was motivated by a dispute over the resale of around ten kilograms of cocaine. A third suspect, Jay Bryant, was charged in May 2023, but will be tried separately and at a later date.

Occurring in the neighborhood of Queens (New York), the assassination of Jason Mizell alias Jam Master Jay, shot in the head at point blank range, and father of three children, caused immense emotion throughout the universe hip-hop. She recalled the violent deaths of two other giants, Tupac Shakur, murdered in Las Vegas in 1996, and The Notorious BIG, killed in Los Angeles in 1997.

A pioneering rap group

His funeral, in the Allen Cathedral, was grandiose, bringing together the elite of American rap of the time, from LL Cool J to Queen Latifah, including Chuck D (Public Enemy) and his friends from Run-DMC, Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, in the middle of several thousand people.

Run-DMC is often considered one of the first major groups of this cultural movement which has become dominant throughout the world, and whose birth 50 years ago, in August 1973, in the Bronx, another borough of New York, was celebrated last year.

With its hits It’s Like That or It’s Tricky and their first albums Run-DMC (1984), King of Rock (1985) and Raising Hell (1986), the trio also marked the transition to a new school of hip-hop, with more rock sounds. Their recovery of the title Walk This Way by Aerosmith, in duet with the rock group, remains a cult piece.