Just ten years ago, legend rap group Run DMC’s Jam Master Jay hung out in a studio in Jamaica, playing XBOX with friends, when two gunmen came through the doors with firing guns, leaving the royal DJ on the studio floor in his own blood. Today, Eric “Shake” James, one of Jam Master Jay’s closest friends wants to help the world focus on all of the great things spinning legend, born Jason Mizell, did while living.
“I just want to focus on the positive stuff that Jay did and the way the music touched the people. I know he was killed, so that will always be a part of it, but it was more to Jay than just being killed, you know what I’m saying? If you ever met this guy, he was like the greatest dude. He was the type of guy that would give you the shirt off his back and not ask for anything in return.”
The mourning friend of Master Jay stated:
“I was running around the world with these dudes and I’m looking up at these bright lights and people screaming ‘Run DMC’ and going crazy and Jay never made me feel like a hanger-on type of dude. He was always introducing me to people,”he added.
“Anybody that we were around, he introduced me to them. Even Tupac, that’s how I met Tupac. He was like, ‘This is my man Shake’ to Tupac. I swear running around with them was the greatest time of my life!”
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Just last month, Run DMC reunited for the first time in over a decade, only to perform without Jam Master Jay in front of thousands in Philadelphia, at Jay-Z’s Made in America Festival. Shake talked to MTV news about that night, explaining how much he anticipated seeing the group back performing together one last time.
Shake told MTV News, “That was the greatest right there.” “I’ve been waiting for that since the day they stopped touring. It’s kinda crazy because we were in Philly doing the rehearsals for Made in America and it was cool and it great but it was supposed to rain. It was cloudy and we going on at five and it was supposed to rain from three to nine or whatever. So it was the first show and I said to myself, ‘Man, Jay ain’t gonna let it rain.’ So we went on and performed and it didn’t rain until we got off the stage. That was incredible.”
Shake continued to let the reporter know of his thoughts about the highlights of the show as well as his love for Jam Master Jay’s son’s special tribute performance. In a recent follow-up on the unsolved murder case, the NY Daily News reported that JMJ’s murder was likely involving an owed drug debt to a former friend of his named Curtis Scoon. A man by the name of Ronald Washington was further alleged as being either the gunman or lookout in the killing. Shake, still anxiously waiting for justice for his friend, has no new information on the tragedy.
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“I heard Curtis Scoon’s name back in the day, but I don’t know him personally or nothing like that,”Shake told reporters of MTV News. “I hope they find out who killed him, but as time passes, I guess it gets harder and harder. But maybe the police already know who did it and they just can’t prove it.”
Shake believes in playing his loyal part in keeping Jam Master Jay’s legacy alive. He provides charitable initiatives under the JMJ’s name such as the “JMJ Back to School Giveaway” and a “Show Us How You Represent” function providing free Addidas to children. He also mentioned that anything that he does for the community under Jay’s name, Addidas stands behind it. “We want to do this every year. Jay was a very positive person and we want to continue that because it has been 10 years and people start to forget.”
On the night of October 30th, 2002, Jason Mizell was fatally shot in the head at approximately 7:30 in his recording studio just a few miles away from where he grew up in Hollis. The police found shells from a .45-caliber inside of the studio’s lounge where Mizell and Urieco Rincon (leg) were shot. Mizell left behind a wife, Terri Corley-Mizell, three sons, a mother, brother and sister.
RIP Jam Master Jay from Hip Hop Enquirer Magazine.
“Gone yet the legacy remains alive and well.”
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