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Eddie
Venom | Profile
© ukhh.com 1999 - 2002
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04.11.02 words Eddie Venom
I'm not gonna eulogise at length on the passing of Jason Mizell at a recording studio in Jamaica, Queens on the evening of October 30th 2002, but it is worth mentioning the impact he made on Hip-Hop during his relatively short life. He may have played the back in the Run DMC set-up but Jam Master Jay's influence extended much further than that of a cameo performer. Everyone has their own personal memories, whether it's the old school appearances in the Run DMC videos, to one of the most live performances on Yo! MTV Raps this side of Premier, to 'Down with the King', to bringing through talent like Onyx on JMJ Records: he always repped the culture properly. While the rest of the crew were going through some existential angst, J kept working in the lab to bring us some good shit.
Nobody knows the full details of the incident at this point; national reports have suggested it may relate to chickens in the studio and some retribution vibes but fuck it, that's irrelevant. I doubt this incident will join the conspiracy theorist hysteria that surrounded 2Pac and Big's murders, even though he played a bigger part in Hip-Hop's development than both these two influential emcees put together. What we should appreciate is that he managed to achieve a career that spanned struggle, innovation and reinvention. Most artists are lucky if they manage to cover one of those in a lifetime.
The death of Jason Mizell may have little impact on the consciousness of mainstream popular culture but it should have a huge effect on you. Nobody should have to suffer such a brutal end, especially someone who made such a positive contribution. Shout-outs to anyone associated with the departed.
"You can't touch Jam Master Jay cuz he's iller."
No doubt.
