Police probe rapper feud

WHILE police investigated whether a feud led to the fatal shooting of Jam Master Jay, a founding member of the pioneering rap trio Run-DMC, friends and family mourned and puzzled over the slaying.

"There's no reason," said the victim's teenage son, Jason Mizell Jr "He didn't really do anything wrong."

The 37-year-old rap star, whose real name was Jason Mizell, was shot once in the head at close range with a .40-calibre semiautomatic in the Wednesday night attack on the second floor of his recording studio, police said.

Two witnesses told investigators conflicting stories about the killing, which took place as Mizell played video games in a lounge with 25-year-old Uriel Rincon, who was shot in the leg. Mr Rincon, who was released from a hospital yesterday, told investigators that a masked man opened fire after a struggle, police said.

Police said they recovered two shell casings from the shooting.

"They're checking out varying theories, including, if it was the result of a personal dispute or linked to the east coast-west coast rappers feud," a law enforcement source said.

By yesterday evening police had not established a motive or identified any suspects. Many in the rap industry questioned whether Mizell, known as a family man and social activist, would ever be caught in a violent flare-up.

"Before the media rushes to attribute this to east coast-west coast violence, they should examine Run-DMC's two decades of contributions and Jam Master Jay's personal character," said hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, whose brother Joseph founded the group with Mizell and Darryl DMC McDaniels.

Bereaved fans outside the crime scene laid flowers, candles, personal notes and an Adidas sneaker a reference to the group's hit song My Adidas with RIP JMJ hand-written in marker.

"Whoever did this, they should know that they really just took a piece of history away," said college student JaCmine Mitchell, 20. "When I was a kid, my mother never sang me lullabies. She sang me Run-DMC."

Police investigating the shooting discovered what one source described as a credible threat against rapper 50 Cent, whose Thursday night show planned for a midtown nightclub was cancelled on their recommendation.

Chris Lighty, 50 Cent's manager, said he doubted the killing and the reported threat were linked.

"There's a threat against anyone in this business every day," he said.

He said he had no idea who would want to harm Mizell.