Photo courtesy of Jeff Pinilla, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Run_DMC_(cropped).png)
Photo by Christopher Beauvil, 2023.
Photo by Christopher Beauvil, 2023.
Jason Mizell (1965-2002) who went by the stage name Jam Master Jay, was born in Brooklyn, NY, on January 21, 1965. As a child, he was musically inclined, picking up the drumsticks and learning to play bass. As a teen Mizell’s family moved to Hollis, Queens. From this neighborhood he began to change the music industry.
He teamed with Joseph Simmons (stage name Run) and Darryl McDaniels (stage name DMC) to form the group Run-DMC in the early 1980s. Known as pioneers of rap, the group helped bring hip hop to the mainstream and were the first rap artists to broadcast on MTV. Run-DMC were the first rappers to have a gold album (Run-D.M.C., 1984), as well as the first to go platinum (Raising Hell, 1986) and multiplatinum (Raising Hell, 1987).
Aside from Run-DMC, in 1989, Mizell launched JMJ Records, a successful record label that signed famous artists like 50 Cent and Onyx. Additionally, he starred in films such as Die Hard (1988), The Bounty Hunter (2010), and Friday Night Lights (2004). Mizell was murdered in his recording studio in Jamaica, Queens, on October 30, 2002. Although the case lay unsolved for many years, in February 2024, Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington were convicted of his murder.
The sign at the corner of 205th Street and Hollis Avenue honors Jam Master Jay in his former neighborhood of Hollis. A nearby mural created by Art1airbrush reinforces Run-DMC’s ties to the neighborhood.
Harry Allen, "Jam Master Jay, 1965-2002," The Village Voice, November 5, 2002, https://www.villagevoice.com/jam-master-jay-19652002/
Ed Shanahan, "3rd Man Is Charged With Murder in Killing of Jam Master Jay" May 30, 2003, https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/30/nyregion/jam-master-jay-murder-charge.html
Karen Zraick, "2 Men Are Convicted in 2002 Killing of Run-DMC D.J. Jam Master Jay," The New York Times, February 27, 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/27/nyregion/run-dmc-jam-master-jay-conviction.html