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Fans pay tribute to Jam Master Jay

By Michael Weissenstein The Associated Press
Wednesday November 06, 2002

NEW YORK — Pallbearers wearing white unlaced Adidas carried the body of slain Run-DMC star Jam Master Jay from a funeral service Tuesday at which he was remembered as “the embodiment of hip-hop.” 

A funeral cortege of white stretch limousines and luxury SUVs was lined up outside the Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in the rapper’s native Queens. Inside, bandmates Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC” McDaniel eulogized their friend, whose real name was Jason “Jay” Mizell, as a great man and groundbreaking musical force. 

“Jason helped build hip-hop, and his job is finished,” said Joseph Simmons, now an ordained minister, wearing a broad-brimmed black hat and clerical collar. “He just couldn’t leave without drama.” 

The funeral came six days after Mizell was shot to death in his Queens recording studio by a masked assailant. No one has been charged. 

A who’s who of hip-hop attended the service. LL Cool J, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Queen Latifah and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, the brother of Joseph Simmons, were among the mourners. Many in the church and among the crowd outside wore the white Adidas and black leather that Run-DMC turned into a fashion trend in the 1980s. 

As DJ for the pioneering group, Jam Master Jay had worked the turntables as Simmons and McDaniels rapped a string of hits over nearly 20 years. 

McDaniels brought the overflow crowd of 2,300 to its feet with his eulogy, getting in a dig at anyone who would call the slaying just another example of rap violence. 

“Jam Master Jay was not a thug,” McDaniels said. “Jam Master Jay was not a gangster.”