More than two decades after the fatal shooting of hip-hop pioneer DJ Jam Master Jay, a.k.a. Jason Mizell, two men have been convicted of his murder in New York City.

Karl Jordan Jr., the DJ’s 40 year-old godson, and Ronald Washington, a 59 year-old childhood friend, allegedly targeted Mizell at his recording studio in 2002 after being cut out of a drug deal. The Run-DMC star was 37 when he was shot.

“Y’all just killed two innocent people” Washington yelled at the jury after the guilty verdict at Tuesday’s trial. The two men now face sentences of 20 years to life in prison.

One of the most influential hip-hop stars of all time, Mizell formed Run-DMC in 1983 alongside Joseph “Run” Simmons and Darryl “DMC”  McDaniels. The trio quickly became international icons with a string of hits in the 80s including ‘It’s Tricky,’ ‘It’s Like That’ and the legendary Aerosmith collaboration ‘Walk This Way.’

In the mid 90s, as the group’s stardom began to ebb, Mizell allegedly turned to cocaine trafficking in order to fund his music career. Defendants Jordan and Washington supposedly conspired to kill the musician after being pushed out of a Baltimore deal worth nearly $200,000 (Є184,920).

The two men, suspects in the case since 2007, both pleaded innocent to the murder charges. During the New York City trials, two key eye-witnesses, Uriel Rincon and Lydia High, claimed to have witnessed the shooting, while a host of other witnesses, including a teenage singer who had been recording in an adjoining studio, were able to add to the evidence against the pair, reporting the sound of gunshots and incriminating statements made following the incident.

Lawyers defending the pair questioned the reliability of witnesses after so many years had passed, noting that both Rincon and High hadn’t been able to identify Jordan or Washington in their initial statements.

“Virtually every witness changed their testimony 1800 degrees,” defence lawyer Susan Kellman told the court.

New York Eastern District attorney Breon Peace argued back, “The witnesses in the recording studio knew the killers, and they were terrified that they would be retaliated against if they cooperated with law enforcement and identified the ruthless executioners of Mr Mizell.”

A third defendant, Jay Bryant, was similarly arrested and charged over the murder in 2023, suspected to have let Jordan and Washington into the studio through the building’s fire escape door. Bryant’s trial has been set for January 2026.