Jam Master Jay's final moments revealed at murder trial: Run DMC rapper grabbed bullet wound in his head after being shot in Queens recording studio, tearful witness testifies

Singer Yarrah Concepcion saw Jam Master Jay slumped on the floor with his arms to his head moments after being shot dead inside a Queen's recording studio in 2002.

‘I didn’t have to check for a pulse,’ Concepcion testified on Thursday as she wiped away tears recounting the murder. ‘When his arm moved his brain stuff came out of his head.’ 

Concepcion was the top witness for prosecutors as they continue to prove their case against Karl Jordan Jr., 40, and Ronald Washington, 59. The two suspects are on trial in Brooklyn federal court following their 2020 arrests in connection to the infamous killing of the Run-DMC star. 

Concepcion, then 18, was in the studio on the fateful October day when gunfire erupted. She recalled trying to kick out the air conditioning unit to flee the mayhem, but had to hide behind a couch when it was unsuccessful. 

‘The first thing I thought about was Jay because he was slumped on the floor with his arms on his head,' she said. 'I asked “you got shot in the leg but where did Jay get shot?”’

The final moments of rap pioneer Jam Master Jay have been revealed as a witness at the trial over his killing recalled the shooting. 

Karl Jordan Jr. (left), now 40, the hip-hop star's godson, is on trial for  Jam Master Jay's murder. He is being tried along with co-defendant Ronald Washington (right), 59

Jam Master Jay, real name Jason Mizell, was killed in October 2002 at a Queens recording studio. Jordan and Washington were not arrested until 2020 in the infamous case

Defense attorneys for Washington and Jordan have denied their clients' involvement in the killing. Jordan has been accused of firing the shot that killed the rap superstar. 

Prosecutors have said that Jam Master Jay, whose real name is Jason Mizell, was killed in a drug deal gone bad. 

Mizell was inside the studio that acted as a community hangout when Jordan and Washington entered, witnesses testified. Tony Rincon, who testified on Wednesday, said Jordan walked up to the superstar and shot him dead before fleeing. 

Concepcion said she was in the recording studio's control room when the two suspects entered.

‘I was on my second song and I hear the door slam to the studio and it made me turn back,’ Concepcion, now 40, said. 

‘There was some tussling sound. Two gunshots went off, pop, pop, so I became very frantic and tried to figure out how to get out of there.'

After her unsuccessful attempt to flee out of the second-story window, Concepcion said, she hid behind the couch. 

‘That’s when I jumped behind the couch and I couldn’t see anybody. I just heard jumping and scrambling,' she said. 

She left the control room and  could smell the smoke from the gunfire. She saw Rincon and he was screaming that he had been shot in the leg. That is when she saw Mizell on the floor with his arms over his head. 

She then recalled asking to check for Mizell's pulse, but he was already dead. 

‘Sorry I can’t think about stuff like this,’ she said before taking a momentary pause to wipe the tears from her eyes.

‘I started dry heaving and I almost threw up,’ she continued.

Fellow witness Stephon Watford, who was Mizell's cousin, also testified on Thursday. He said that Washington asked him for bullets and warned him not to go to the studio days before the shooting because 'something bad is going to happen.' 

‘We didn’t think too much about it, we live in the hood. Asking for bullets was normal behavior in the environment we grew up in,' Watford told the jury. 

Singer Yarrah Concepcion said she saw Jam Master Jay slumped on the floor with his arms to his head moments after being shot dead inside a Queen's recording studio in 2002

Jam Master Jay rose to fame with the group Run-DMC. But, prosecutors have said he was killed in a drug deal gone bad. Lawyers for the two suspects on trial have denied involvement

The day before Mizell was killed he had just returned from Milwaukee, where he had met with rapper 50 Cent, Watford said. 

‘He was so happy about 50 Cent getting signed to Dr Dre. We laughed, we cried about it. It meant so much to him,' the cousin said. 

After the murder, Watford said he got a phone call and rushed to the scene. He added that Washington was not at the home during the murder. But when he ran to get into his car, he spotted the father of suspect Jordan, who demanded he ride with him to the studio. 

By the time they arrived, police were already on scene and they had blocked off the area. 

Watford returned home and saw Washington later that same evening at the same house, with a 'didn't care' demeanor. 

‘He walked to the house with a Hennessy bottle, he said: “Don’t throw this bottle away, this is the last one Jason drank out of,”’ Watford testified.

Washington also downplayed the murder in a media interview, Watford recalled. 

'This happens every day in the hood.,' Watford recalled Washington saying, ‘It was nothing to him.’