October 30, 2002 – Jam-Master Jay was shot and killed at 7:30 pm in a Merrick Boulevard recording studio in Jamaica, Queens. Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, came up in New York’s Hollis neighborhood in Queens and started playing the trumpet at the age of 3. He later picked up the bass, guitar and drums and eventually moved on to the turntables and DJing by the age of 13. Sacrificing his sleep to practice, Jay got good enough to takes his DJ skills to parks and clubs and eventually joined Run and D.M.c. as the DJ of what would later become arguably the most influential group in hip-hop. Jam Master Jay spent times as a musician in several bands over the years, launched a record label that was responsible for releasing the group Onyx and established the Scratch DJ Academy in Manhattan. On October 30th of 2002, Mizell became the victim of gun violence when he was fatally shot in a New York studio. In 2007, Ronald Washington was named as an accomplice in the shooting. Jam Master Jay was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Harsdale, New York and has been honored and remembered by just about all of hip-hop’s elite.