Episode #55 | 4.14.20
Run DMC: Innovation, Evolution, and the Mysterious Death of Jam Master Jay
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In this episode
Run DMC is directly responsible for elevating hip hop to previously unimagined heights. They took rap music into an entirely different direction and helped mainstream the genre. They were beloved as musicians, innovators and people. None more than their DJ, Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell, which makes understanding his senseless murder near impossible. Who killed Jam Master Jay and why? And why are there literally zero suspects when there were numerous eyewitnesses?
Sources
Tougher Than Leather by Bill Adler
ReMastered: Who Killed Jam Master Jay? Dir. by Brian Oakes
Was It a Bad Business Deal or a Music Industry Feud? By Andy Newman and Al Baker
Suspect Named in Jam Master Jay Murder, by Billboard staff
Jam Master Jay Murder Conspiracy Theories Linger 16 Years After Studio Killing, by Bruce C.T. Wright
To Most Americans, the South Bronx Would Be Another Country, by Bryant Rollins
Gangs Spread Terror in the South Bronx, by Martin Tolchin
The Strange and Tragic Story of Jam Master Jay, by Henry Adaso
Disgraceland is a podcast about musicians getting away with murder and behaving very badly. It melds music history, true crime and transgressive fiction. Disgraceland is not journalism. Disgraceland is entertainment. Entertainment inspired by true events. However, certain scenes, characters and names are sometimes fictionalized for dramatic purposes.
Music
Score by Jake Brennan.
Mixed and Engineered by Sean Cahalin.
Disgraceland theme song, "Crenshaw Space Boogie" written and produced by Jake Brennan. Performed by Jake Brennan, Bryce Kanzer, Jay Cannava and Evan Kenney. Mixed and engineered by Adam Taylor.
*illustrations by Avi Spivak @avispivak