US: Jam Master Jay, one of the founders of rap music pioneers Run-DMC, was shot dead by two gunmen inside his New York City studio, police said.
Jay (37), whose group rocketed to fame with an innovative blend of rap and rock guitar, died instantly after being shot in the head late on Wednesday in the latest of half-a-dozen killings to shake the turbulent world of hip-hop music since 1995.
Run DMC had often spoken out against the violence of gang culture.
There was no immediate word on the motive for the shooting of Jam Master Jay, whose real name was Jason Mizell.
Jam Master Jay was the DJ behind fellow group members Run (Joseph Simmons) and DMC (Darryl McDaniels) as the childhood friends catapulted to international fame in the 1980s, when rap and hip-hop first became mainstream.
Their 1986 remake of Aerosmith's Walk This Way garnered worldwide success in 1986, and was itself remade into a club hit that topped charts worldwide in 1998.
The murder was just the latest in a series of gangland-style killings that have robbed the rap music world of some of its brightest artists - including hip-hop stars Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G.
The mystery surrounding the two unsolved murders has spawned several books as well as a full-length documentary, Biggie and Tupac, shown recently at the Irish Film Centre.