The Hip Hop world will come together in mass over the next few days to pay tribute for the late Jam Master Jay. First today [Monday November 3 2002] there will be a public and private wake.. Tomorrow will be the funeral.
As the Hip Hop world grieves there have been a number of developments. First, we now know that the police have a video tape of the suspect. Shortly after the slaying newspapers and other media outlets reported that there was no video tape which aroused suspicion because the studio where the killing took place regularly recorded people coming and going. Media outlets were quick to jump on this facet and as a result implied that JMJ may have been involved with some sort of ‘rap war‘ which led to him being killed.
We now know that a tape was given to the police who say they have gotten a small break in the case. They have issued a description of the suspect. He’s described as a dark skin black male who is 6’2″ and 180-210 lbs…There’s no word as to whether or not they will have some sort of sketch. Thus far they are saying they got the description from eye witnesses. We’ll keep you posted on what the they find on the video tape.The police will be interviewing a couple of possible suspects including an unidentified man who supposedly has a long-standing feud with JMJ.
Another disturbing development is a cat named Kenneth Walker was shot and killed in the Bronx over the weekend. Walker was a promoter for rap star 50 Cent. The NYPD has been trying to see if there’s any sort of connection between JMJ and beefs involving 50 Cent.For those who don’t know, over the past couple of years 50 Cent has gotten under people’s skin for doing songs where he calls out so-called ‘gangsta rappers’. His new album has all sorts of dis songs.. As of Thursday last week, 50 Cent has reported to have left town because there have been a number of threats on his life. JMJ was friends with 50 Cent and produced some of music.
While all this is going on, the press has had a field day lambasting JMJ and trashing his image. The NY Daily News ran a disturbing article over the weekend pointing out that JMJ owed close to 500 million dollars in back taxes. They also reported that he owed one cat 10 thousand dollars. They noted that him being killed may have been because he owed so much money.
The NY Daily News article included callous quotes from a NY Franchise Tax Board representative stating that they intend to collect their money from JMJ’s estate. It’s like he hasn’t even been buried yet and already their lining up to get paid. The story also has everyone wondering, if these allegations are true, how in the world does a cat who belongs to a group as famous as Run-DMC which has more multi-platinum albums then we can count and is responsible for running his own label and for discovering and putting out multi-platinum acts like Onyx, be broke and in that type of serious debt?
All sorts of other media outlets from USA Today to the NY Times have jumped on the rap war/rap feud bandwagon. In spite of vehement denials from those closest to JMJ including Russell Simmons, the coverage from that angle has been relentless. This is now resulting in The Federal government intervening and using this as an excuse to probe the relationships that exists within the rap world. In fact the NY Post has a huge headline screaming this fact…
All this is coming at the heels of disturbing accusations suggesting that the recent killings by the accused Beltway snipers John Muhammed and Lee Malvo were inspired by rap songs and rap groups who belong to the 5 Percent Nation. Acts like Wu-Tang‘s Killarmy have been cited as the influence… Folks may wanna peep this latest article..
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/61299.htm