Jam Master Jay of the pioneering rap trio Run DMC has been shot and killed.
Publicist Tracy Miller confirmed the death of the 37-year-old rapper, whose real name was Jason Mizell.
A legal source said the rapper was shot in the head at a recording studio in the New York City borough of Queens. A second person was shot in the ankle and the gunman escaped.
Run DMC are widely credited with helping bring hip-hop into music's mainstream, including the group's smash collaboration with Aerosmith on "Walk This Way".
"We always knew rap was for everyone," Mizell said in a 2001 interview with MTV. "Anyone could rap over all kinds of music.
"It wasn't the soulful R&B of the '70s and '80s," he said of the group's early work. "So we didn't want to be like the soft R&B. We wanted to go hardcore, so we put the rock-and-roll on our rap".
In 2001, the rappers produced Crown Royal, breaking an eight-year silence, and released a greatest-hits album earlier this year.
PA