A hip hop legend was laid to rest on Tuesday and there was no shortage of people showing their respects for Jason Mizell. Nearly 2000 people squeezed into the Allen Cathedral for the funeral, hundreds more were waiting outside. There were plenty of hip hop stars there to pay homage; Doug E. Fresh, Chuck D, EPMD, Queen Latifah, Kurtis Blow, Russell Simmons Sean “Puffy” Combs, Treach, A Tribe Called Quest, Big Tigger, Jermaine Dupri, Foxy Brown, Whodini, Pepa and others.
His Run-DMC partners, DMC (Darryl McDaniels) and Rev. Run (Joseph Simmons), both spoke about their long-time friend to the crowd. Many of whom were wearing leather pants and jackets, shell-toe Adidas with no laces and bowler hats. The attire that was made so famous by Run-DMC. One fan in attendance brought a boombox and kept repeating the first lines from the title song of Run-DMC’s “King of Rock,” the first platinum hip-hop album: “I’m the King of Rock, there is none higher … I won’t stop rockin’ ’till I retire.”
The following day at a press conference, the remaining members of Run-DMC officially announced their retirement. As expected, the cited that there is no replacing Jam Master Jay. Russell Simmons also spoke and mentioned the generous donations that have been made in order to help take care of Mizell’s family, like paying for his house and his son’s college educations. Among those to contribute were LL Cool J (who donated $50,000), Dr. Dre, Eminem, Interscope Records, Murder Inc. Records, BET, The Source, XXL, Redman, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, Kid Rock and Aerosmith.
