Thousands Continue To Mourn
The Loss Of Jam Master Jay

By Shams Tarek

Jam Master Jay had opened the doors wide for countless artists around the world who could only try to fill his Adidas.

This week, thousands of fans, friends and Southeast Queens neighbors mourned the death of Run-DMC’s DJ Jam Master Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell, at a local wake and funeral held under the surreal circumstances of heavy police surveillance and an outpouring of love.

  Over 2,500 mourners gathered at Jamaica’s Greater Allen Cathedral on Nov. 5 for Mizell’s funeral, an emotional event attended not only by many Allen regulars, but also many who came to pay respects to one of the pioneering architects of the hip-hop genre.

The morning service started with the arrival of Mizell’s coffin in a white carriage drawn by two white horses down Merrick Boulevard. 

Pallbearers wearing Run-DMC styled trademark outfits of black leather jackets, black wide-brimmed hats and white Adidas sneakers carried the coffin into the Cathedral as a gaggle of mourners and passersbys looked on from behind police lines across the street.

Inside, a procession of community leaders, hip-hop stars and family members paid tribute to the 37-year-old husband and father of three whose life was celebrated for his commitment to Hollis and music artists who embrace non-violence.

“Jam Master Jay was not a thug,” said bandmate Darryl McDaniels, also known as DMC, in a trembling voice while fighting back tears.

“Jam Master Jay was not a gangster.  Jam Master Jay was a unique individual.  He came from a special class of humankind and he represented a most interesting culture.  Plain and simple, Jam Master Jay was a B-Boy.  He was the embodiment of hip-hop.”

McDaniels concluded his eulogy and roused the audience by quoting some of his band’s most famous lyrics.

“All of us here can say,” McDaniels said quoting from the Run-DMC song “Rock Box,” “You was never a sucka MC perpetratin’ a fraud.”

Bandmate Joseph “Run” Simmons, now an ordained minister, also spoke during the funeral service dubbed a “Celebration of Mizell’s life.”

“Let’s not ask why Jason is gone,” Simmons said. “Let’s ask why we’re here.  We’re here to do God’s work, but ask yourself this question: What does God want of me?

“I don’t know if I should say this, but this is Jay’s biggest hit ever, all the support, all the love.  This is the most press Jason has ever gotten.  This is his last DJ gig.”

Greater Allen Cathedral’s pastor, Rev. Floyd Flake, told mourners that Mizell “may not have lived long, but he lived well, by the contributions that he made.  Let us know that this is a celebration of a life.”

After the funeral, mourners ducked into limousines and hip-hop stars like Eric Sermon from the 1980s rap group EPMD did interviews for broadcast news reporters in front of the Cathedral.

By the rear exit, though, a small group of hip-hop pioneers, some just as famous and all close friends of Mizell, stood around and reminisced about the DJ and hip-hop’s old days.

“I remember the days we was ballin’,” said Chuck D, vocalist for the seminal Public Enemy.  “Jay was the B-Boy.  It’s a damn shame.  Every time you see a mother burying a son, it’s a damn shame.”

“He passed the Malcolm-Martin line,” said another man, referring to the black leaders’ ages when they were murdered.

Photo of Jason Mizell a.k.a. Jam Master Jay from the “Celebration of Life” ceremony held this week at Greater Allen Cathedral.

Power 105.1 DJ Ed Lover, who grew up with Mizell in Hollis, talked about how Run-DMC defined hip-hop culture when the group got big in 1984, and noted that “someone needs to program a radio station for the 25-to-54 group,” as many of hip-hop’s founders are that old now and don’t want to listen to the more violent, explicit music being made by young rappers today.

Lover, whose participation in the conversation was interrupted by a call on his mobile phone from Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav, added that “today’s music is disposable.”

“All the old dudes make good records,” Lover said.  “Now Nelly, he’s good, but it’s disposable hip hop.”

Chuck D, laughing, concurred: “It’s like McDonald’s, that gets cold in a few hours, and you can’t heat that stuff up later.  Now we’re like your mom’s cooking, you can heat that up after a few days, and it still tastes good.”

The morning funeral was held a day after a star-and-fan-studded wake at St. Albans’ J. Foster Phillips Funeral Home, where employees said about a thousand people lined up on Linden Boulevard to see Mizell for the last time.

Mizell’s body was on view and decked out in his trademark black hat and white Adidas for the wake, which was held between 2 and 10 p.m. and was the most highly attended in the funeral home’s 73-year history, a J. Foster Phillips employee said.

Outside, hundreds of fans who couldn’t get into the wake — the line stretched five blocks down Linden Boulevard — stood in the cold to be near Mizell during one of his last public moments. 

Several sports utility vehicles playing Run-DMC’s music paraded up and down the street in front of the funeral home, blasting their horns as fans and mourners cheered from the sidewalk.

Police officers and detectives worked fervently throughout the week to find the man who shot Mizell once in the head while he was playing a video game in his Merrick Boulevard recording studio on Oct. 30.

Police not only made inquiries based on leads in several states, according to some rappers who were at Mizell’s funeral, but also kept watch at the crime scene and were omnipresent at both the wake and funeral this week.

Outside the Phillips funeral home on Nov. 4, police officers closed side streets and stood watch at every corner for about a dozen blocks of Linden Boulevard.  Uniformed and plain-clothed officers scanned faces in the crowd constantly, sometimes taking photographs and videotaping people.  One officer, who asked his name not be used in an article, said they were looking for Mizell’s killer or anyone who might know something about him.

Plainclothes police officers were also a strong presence inside the Greater Allen Cathedral during the funeral. 

While the official word from the Police Department is that the investigation to find Mizell’s killer is ongoing, sources from the department told the PRESS that they are narrowing their search to people in the hip-hop world, particularly anyone who Mizell may have worked with in the past.

The rappers who congregated behind the Cathedral after the funeral noted their surprise about how actively police have been looking for Mizell’s killer, who they suspect will be found before long.

“How about that kid that’s sliding on grease right now?” Chuck D asked Lover and the others in the circle, noting that “people in four or five states” have been getting calls about the murder.  “Cops is pissed!”

“That kid made a planet full of enemies,” a man in the circle said.