Entertainment
Two Men Convicted of Killing Run-DMC’s Jam Master Jay Nearly 22 Years After the Rap Star’s Death – Andscape
NEW YORK – Two men were convicted of murder Tuesday in reference to the death of Run-DMC Jam star Master Jay, a brazen shooting from 2002 in the rap legend’s studio.
An anonymous federal jury in Brooklyn has reached its verdict in the trial of Karl Jordan Jr. and Ronald Washington.
Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, worked the turntables at Run-DMC, helping hip-hop break into mainstream pop music in the Eighties with hits like “It’s Tricky” and a fresh tackle Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way” . Mizell later began a record label, opened a studio in his old Queens neighborhood and helped usher in other talent, including rapper 50 Cent.
Mizell was shot dead in his studio in front of witnesses October 30, 2002
Like the murders of rap icons Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G in the late Nineteen Nineties, Mizell’s case remained open for years. Authorities were bombarded with suggestions, rumors and theories, but had difficulty getting witnesses to come back forward.
Jordan, 40, was the godson of the famous DJ. Washington, 59, was an old friend who was sleeping at DJ’s sister’s house. Both men were arrested in 2020 and pleaded not guilty.
“Twenty years is a long time to wait for justice,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Artie McConnell told the jury in closing arguments, urging: “Don’t let this go on for another minute.”
The men’s names, or not less than their nicknames, have appeared for a long time in reference to the case. Authorities publicly named Washington a suspect in 2007. Meanwhile, he told the magazine in 2003 that he was outside the studio, heard gunshots and saw “Little D” – one of Jordan’s nicknames – running from the constructing.
Prosecutors argue that each men turned on the rap star over a cocaine deal.
Mizell was part of Run-DMC’s anti-drug message, delivered through a public service announcement and lyrics corresponding to “.” But in response to prosecutors and trial testimonyafter the group’s heyday, he went into debt and moonlighted as a cocaine broker to cover his bills and his customary generosity towards friends.
“He was a man who engaged in the drug game to take care of the people who depended on him,” McConnell said in his summary.
Prosecution witnesses testified that in recent months, Mizella had a plan to acquire 10 kilograms of cocaine and sell it through Jordan, Washington and a dealer in Baltimore. But the Baltimore connection refused to cooperate with Washingtonin response to testimony.
According to prosecutors, Washington and Jordan went after Mizell out of revenge, greed and jealousy.
Two eyewitnesses, a former studio assistant Uriel Rincon and Mizell’s former business manager, Lydia High, testified that Washington locked the door and he ordered High to lie on the floor. She said he brandished a gun.
Rincon identified Jordan as the man who approached Mizell and exchanged friendly greetings moments before shots were fired and one bullet was fired he wounded Rincon himself. Three other people incl a teenage singer who just dropped by to the studio to praise her demo tape, they testified that they were in the next room and heard but didn’t see what happened.
Other witnesses testified that Washington and Jordan made incriminating statements about Mizell’s murder after it happened.
Neither Washington nor Jordan testified. Their lawyers questioned the credibility of key prosecution witnesses and their memories of the long-ago shooting, noting that some initially denied having the ability to discover the assailants or having heard who they were.
“Virtually every witness changed their testimony 180 degrees,” one of Washington’s lawyers, Susan Kellman, told the judge during legal arguments.
Witnesses said they were overwhelmed, didn’t want to supply second-hand information or feared for his or her lives.
Washington’s defense also referred to a retired psychology professor who testified that folks’s memories of any given event can turn into a mixture of what they really experienced and what they later learned.
Entertainment
Angelina Jolie’s disturbing performance in new interview sparks criticism Years after health problems caused her face to sag
Angelina Jolie promotes her next film, “Maria”, in which she plays the role of the famous opera singer Maria Callas.
However, for some fans, the press was more about Jolie’s health and appearance than her work in film.
On November 21, Jolie sat down with Michael Strahan for an interview on “Good Morning America” to discuss her fear of using her real voice to sing opera for the role and the enjoyment of motherhood. However, in the course of the chat, some fans claimed they noticed Jolie’s face looked different than usual.
One person was cited by Express US for this story he said“It looks rough.”
Another commentator on Page Six he wrote“Ok, I just read that her face looks different because she stated that she developed hypertension and Bell’s palsy, a condition that she said caused her face to droop to one side. I assumed she looked like she had a stroke, in order that explains it.
Debates about Jolie’s sickly appearance erupted when fans noticed visibly large veins on her arms during separate red carpet appearances. Even those that knew her health were still shocked and anxious by her photos.
Jolie first revealed that she had the disease in 2017. In an interview with Vanity Fair she said he said she discovered she had hypertension and Bell’s palsy in 2016, the identical yr she filed for divorce from Brad Pitt.
So when she was diagnosed with the disease, she said she wasn’t sure what could have caused it. “I can’t tell if it’s menopause or if it’s just the year,” said Jolie, then 42. “Sometimes women in families put themselves last until it manifests itself in their own health.”
However, she also said that she is trying to pay more attention to her health. “I actually feel more like a woman because I make wise choices, I put my family first and I am responsible for my life and health. I think that’s what makes a woman complete.”
Last yr, the “Maleficent” star opened up again about her condition, revealing that it was caused by the stress of ending her relationship with Pitt.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, she said he said“My body reacts very strongly to stress. My blood sugar levels go up and down. Six months before the divorce, I suddenly developed Bell’s palsy.
According to National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke“Bell’s palsy is a neurological disorder that causes paralysis or weakness on one side of the face. It occurs when one in every of the nerves that control the facial muscles becomes damaged or stops working properly, which may cause the facial muscles to droop or sag.
Entertainment
“The Honorable Shyne” is a hit. This is why I wanted to tell this story. — Andlandscape
One of the primary reasons Andscape culture author Justin Tinsley and I were tapped to co-executive produce was our backgrounds as music journalists. The documentary chronicling Moses “Shyne” Barrow’s rise to fame, imprisonment, and re-emergence as a political leader suits firmly into our wheelhouse, as his best rap years got here within the early 2000s – right at the center of our hip-hop fandom. I donated my time helping with the documentary, which was a top ten show in its debut week on Huluas a likelihood to help tell the story of hip-hop. I got here away from the project with an understanding of a man in conflict, at odds with himself and his past, and wanting to forge a path forward.
Shyne’s story illustrates the American dream: a poor black immigrant comes to America and from nowhere becomes one in all the largest rap stars. It is also a story about how the American criminal justice system and music industry chew up and spit out so many young Black people. To carelessly follow Shyne’s story is to consider him as just one other young black man who fell into a bad situation and never recovered. After all, his rap profession was effectively derailed when in 2001 he was sentenced to ten years in prison for the 1999 shooting at Club New York in Manhattan. But what inspired me about Shyne’s story was his refusal to let this devastation define him.
In 2021, I hung out in New Orleans with former No Limit rapper McKinley “Mac” Phipps, who had just been released from prison after spending 21 years in prison for a murder he denied committing. As I listened to Shyne’s story, I considered Mac. Both were avatars of a system that tested rap as much because it tested individual men. Mac’s story was about how hip-hop lyrics may be used to accuse someone within the face of overwhelming evidence of their innocence. Similarly, Shyne’s trial created a sensation about hip-hop’s relationship to violence in a city hungry for head on a plate.
Both Shyne and Mac emerged from prison as completely different people than once they entered. In Mac’s case, it was the period of time he spent at home, during which he transformed from a teenage rapper into a man after 20 years spent in confinement. For Shyne, his transformation got here from faith when he converted to Orthodox Judaism in prison. When I have a look at people like Shyne and Mac, I wonder how they’ll survive being locked in a cage, and their answers are inspiring.
While Shyne’s rap stories are what drew me to this project, it’s his journey as a man that makes me proud to help tell his story. And we actually get to see that journey after he raps the ultimate bars of his rap profession.
Shyne got here to the film wanting to discuss his lowest moments – the time after his release from prison in 2009, when he lashed out, frustrated at seeing a latest crop of rap stars emerge within the void left by his absence. He was rudderless. As rudderless as anyone may be who has lost a decade to a prison system that wanted to destroy him. And much more, since it was closed when the superstar’s fame was on the tip of his fingers.
The raspy-voiced rapper could have let these mishaps define him, but that is where Shyne’s story resonates with everyone, whether or not they’re a rap fan or not. Shyne’s second act, the one through which he finds purpose in community and family, where he uses his innate charisma and true genius to turn out to be a political leader and motivational speaker.
I cannot discuss Shyne’s reappearance without mentioning Sean “Diddy” Combs. Combs, the disgraced hip-hop mogul who signed Shyne to his label Bad Boy Records and helped launch his profession, is the elephant within the room throughout the documentary and in Shyne’s life. So lots of the artists who emerged under Diddy – from G Depp and Mase to The Notorious BIG – suffered terrible consequences. Shyne’s name was all the time on the list because he spent ten years in prison. And yet, Shyne’s approach to healing and moving forward is as inspiring as his ability to overcome what he sees because the sabotage of his life and profession.
These are lessons I didn’t expect to learn from the stories in regards to the hip-hop star from my childhood. These are inspiring moments that can be of interest to those that haven’t yet turn out to be inquisitive about the Brooklyn, or somewhat Belizean, rapper featured within the documentary. These are the points that make me proud to be a a part of telling Shyne’s story.
Entertainment
Kendrick Lamar Releases Surprise Album ‘GNX’; group chats are going crazy
There are few things more exciting than receiving an infinite barrage of text messages at the very same time in numerous group chats. This normally implies that something vital has happened in popular culture. Well, the exact same thing happened about noon on November 22, within the yr of our Lord two thousand and twenty-four. Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, higher often called Kendrick Lamar, released the album “GNX”, nod towards Buick Grand National Regal GNXa rare muscle automobile released in 1987 – which also happens to be the yr Kendrick was born.
“GNX” is coming to the tip of what has been a banner yr for Kendrick Lamar. From epic diss records geared toward Drake, to creating the largest song of his profession (and a Drake diss track) on “Not Like Us”, to the “Pop Out” concert streaming live to tell the tale Amazon Prime, Kendrick won this yr. He even received seven Grammy nominations, mostly for “Not Like Us.” And this victory will proceed in the brand new yr. In September, it was announced that Kendrick would stay Super Bowl 2025 headliner will happen in New Orleans. This announcement sparked some controversy and comments from several New Orleans legends similar to Juvenile and most notably Lil Wayne, who felt disrespected; Kendrick immediately refers to this topic within the opening song of the album (all stylized in lower case), “wacced out murals”.
The thing is, Kendrick didn’t sleep for many of 2024. And then, while the remaining of us were minding our own business, listening to other albums that had just dropped, like Ice Cube’s “Man Down,” I began receiving text after text… and I knew that would only mean that something vital happened.
At this point in my life (and possibly even yours), Kendrick Lamar releases are a drop-everything-and-listen event. I immediately went to the streaming service, launched “GNX” and pressed “Play”.
I need to admit that the primary time I heard the album I used to be a bit confused. Kendrick has probably never been more popular or famous; if there was ever a time to drag a Kanye West and release his own version of “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” – an album largely produced as Kanye’s best and most representative of Kanye’s greatness – now could be the time. “GNX” has a far more modern West Coast vibe and is certainly more for his die-hard fans than anyone who just began gaining attention due to his beef with Drake. Maybe that was the purpose; possibly not.
Either way, I can imagine that folks whose favorite lines are “OV-Ho” won’t be immediately thrilled. I wasn’t immediately blown away (though very amused by how sensitive Kendrick is to what people say about him on social media, well, everyone), but as is all the time the case with Kendrick albums, repeated listens are likely to correct any immediate monotony that I even have about his projects. For example, now that I’ve listened to it just a few times, I can not wait to listen to black college bands playing “tv off” style, which seems like a cousin of “Not Like Us.” The Shoot, Bayou Classic, which also takes place yearly in New Orleans on Thanksgiving Day, stands out as the first time we hear a band playing “TV off.”
Since the album didn’t come out long enough to be reviewed, group chats and social media were abuzz with immediate reactions. This is the a part of music releases I really like, where everyone seems to be listening to the identical thing, offering premature takes that will not even delay the following day. I’m not different; I’m sure I’ll say something about this album that can sound silly by Monday. Shoot, I can have already done it. But that is what happens when great artists release music. We spend time with others after which we refer to them, analyze them, criticize them, praise them, destroy them and let all our prejudices fly free. Love it.
It’s value noting that certainly one of Drake’s diss tracks that did not appear during last summer’s fracas was titled “The Heart Part 6,” and was an apparent try to usurp Kendrick’s pre-album practice of removing a non-album song titled “The Heart.” Well, Kendrick has a song on his recent album called, you guessed it, “The Heart, Pt. 6,” which I feel will probably be released soon Drake. Good job, Kenny.
Argue.
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