A New York resident has admitted his role in the deadly shooting of hip-hop icon Jason Mizell, known professionally as Jam Master Jay from the legendary group Run-DMC, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
Jay Bryant, age 52, entered his guilty plea during a Brooklyn court hearing, confessing to facilitating the 2002 murder that stemmed from a cocaine trafficking disagreement. Bryant now faces a potential 20-year prison sentence, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Prosecutors say Bryant unlocked a fire escape door at Mizell’s recording studio, providing entry for two gunmen who carried out the fatal attack on the hip-hop pioneer.
The two shooters, Karl Jordan and Ronald Washington, were convicted in 2024 for Mizell’s murder in connection with drug trafficking activities. However, a federal judge later overturned Jordan’s conviction, determining that prosecutors hadn’t adequately proven their case.
Run-DMC, featuring Mizell alongside his bandmates, revolutionized hip-hop music during the 1980s by bringing the genre to mainstream audiences. Their chart-topping songs included “It’s Tricky” and their collaboration with Aerosmith on “Walk This Way” from their platinum-selling 1986 record “Raising Hell.”
Court evidence revealed that as Mizell’s entertainment career declined in the 1990s, he began trafficking cocaine to support his musical endeavors financially.
According to prosecutors, Mizell purchased cocaine in 2002 for distribution in Maryland through Jordan, who was his godson, and Washington, a close friend, along with additional accomplices. The dispute arose when Mizell excluded Jordan and Washington from a nearly $200,000 drug transaction due to conflicts between Washington and a Baltimore-based co-conspirator.
This disagreement ultimately resulted in the 37-year-old Mizell’s death, with prosecutors alleging that Jordan fired the fatal shot.
