Well-known rapper shot dead in studio

American rap fans were in shock yesterday after Jam Master Jay, a founding member of the pioneering band Run DMC, was gunned down in his New York recording studio.

He became the latest victim of the brutality that has surrounded rap stars but, unlike other murdered rappers, he avoided using violence as a theme for records.

Two men walked into the second-floor studio shortly before shots were fired in its lounge on Wednesday night, police said. They were still on the run yesterday