Karl “Big D.” Jordan is a self described lifelong friend of “Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell. Mizell introduced Jordan to the rap game, by using his connections at Rush Management to get a job in the office.
Jordan and Mizell kept close through the years, both living in the same area of Hollis, Queens.
On mischief night, the evening before Halloween in which harmless jokes are played, Jordan heard the news that Jay had been shot and killed in his recording studio, 24/7.
It was not a joke.
Fast forward almost a year later and the man who calls Jay a lifelong friend has been investigated as a possible suspect in Jay’ murder. In this exclusive interview, Jordan speaks about his past with Jay, the men at the studio and what may have taken place on one of the darkest nights in hip-hop’s history.
AllHipHop: Give me some history with Jay. How did you first meet him?
Karl Jordan: I knew Jay for 30 something years. My father and his father were good friends. His father was looking to move outta Brooklyn. My father helped him find a house in Hollis, Queens.
AllHipHop: Was Jay your connection into the music business? You worked for Rush Management right?
Karl Jordan: I guess you could say that, yeah.
AllHipHop: Do you still work in the music business?
Karl Jordan: Yeah I manage and consult record companies overseas and things like that.
AllHipHop: What was your reaction when you heard Jay was shot and killed?
Karl Jordan: I didn’t believe it was Jay. I thought that somebody got shot at the studio, but I didn’t expect it to be as serious as it was.
AllHipHop: Tinard Washington, who is locked up, placed you at the crime scene. Why?
Karl Jordan: My first wife got at his sister. It was like a family feued from like 20 years ago. That’s all I can think of. Tinard is a btch ass ngga. Tinard really is not in my league. It’s like an adult and a child.
AllHipHop: I heard that a few days after the shooting, you hired a cat named Shawn Jones to shoot Tinard Washington.
Karl Jordan: What?….I haven’t heard anything about that, no.
AllHipHop: Where where you when Jay was shot?
Karl Jordan: I was on the block, on 23rd right across the street from Jason’s house. I was actually working on a boiler.
AllHipHop: What was your relationship with Jay’s circle of friends?
Karl Jordan: Randy had been a good friend of Jay’s for sometime. I don’t know why Jay decided to help him to the extent that he did. I knew Randy through the neighborhood, but I aint really have no relationship with him, like that. Jay is the one that put him in the game and kept him in the game by doing the JMJ Records thing. Every time I saw him, it was pretty much I was doing something with Jay and he was floating around. He was there because Jay was there.
AllHipHop: I’ve heard that Randy Allen has a hit out on you. You heard that?
Karl Jordan: Yeah I heard something like that.
AllHipHop: Why all of a sudden does he want to get you, if that scenario were true? Do you have beef with him?
Karl Jordan: If he’s involved with Jay’s death, than yeah. (laughs).
AllHipHop: Were you familiar with Lydia High?
Karl Jordan: Yeah I know Lulu (Lydia High’s nickname).
AllHipHop: What about the people in the studio? Reports have stated that they aren’t cooperating with the police.
Karl Jordan: Right and they should all go to jail. I don’t know why they haven’t been charged with anything yet. You know that Jay is dead. You know you got a body, something happened. A crime was committed and these people were at the scene at the crime. I don’t understand why they aint in jail.
AllHipHop: Do you think that the fact Randy Allen’s brother in law is a detective for the NYPD has anything to do what anything?
Karl Jordan: That could be, but that aint gonna work. You can only hide behind that for so long.
AllHipHop: A report says that the killer hugged Jay, which refutes what Lydia told the police. She said Tinard came in the studio with a masked gunman and the gunman shot Jay. Now they claim the gunman hugged Jay. Why would he hug a masked man? Someone in the inner circle is obstructing justice.
Karl Jordan: Not somebody man, all of em. Starting with Randy.
AllHipHop: A lot has been said about Jay being involved in drugs. Who is “Uncle?” I heard he was a big time drug dealer that Jay dealt with frequently and that he fronted Jay 10 Kilo’s of cocaine.
Karl Jordan: I don’t know nothing about that. I heard that, but I don’t know anything about that.
AllHipHop: I heard that 6 months prior to Jay’s death that you, Tinard, Jay, Chris Run (Jay’s driver) when down to Baltimore with a bunch of coke and that a friend of the Allen’s, who goes by the name of Yaqin ran off with the drugs.
Karl Jordan: I aint go no where.
AllHipHop: Do you know who Yaqin is?
Karl Jordan: Yeah he’s a kid from the neighborhood.
AllHipHop: He’s in Baltimore now?
Karl Jordan: Yeah.
AllHipHop: Was he a friend of the Allen family?
Karl Jordan: Yeah. See man, Jay’s murder could be about the studio itself. It could be about Jay catching Randy stealing money, it could be a number of things to be honest It could be about the profits from the insurance money, you know?
AllHipHop: Do you know anything about the insurance policy?
Karl Jordan: I heard Randy got paid. I heard that the way Randy had it setup, when the policy was to be cashed, he had his sister down as a beneficiary, so it wouldn’t look like the money came to him I guess. So whatever money came, went to his sister. I think that it’s unjust. A year later there are still a lot of un answered questions. Lulu and Randy to me are like one. She aint gonna say nothing unless he says it’s OK to say it. It’s my understanding that she saw who went in the studio and saw what happened and she is covering it up. At one point, over and over again they said it was Curtis Scoon. Now Curtis comes out of the wood works and Randy changes it from Curtis to Supreme, then he changes it from Supreme to me. I know that Randy is lying and I don’t know why he gotta be lying. If he aint involved, why is he lying?
There is only one story. Different people see it from different views cause they were in different rooms, but at the end of the day, the sh*t all gotta make sense. The police really can’t make sense of it, but they know Randy and his sister is lying.
AllHipHop: Why haven’t they been the focus of anything, in terms of the media or otherwise?
Karl Jordan: Randy think he’s kinda half ass smart. What Randy has done is kinda orchestrated this Murder She Wrote type novel. And the relationship with his brother-in-law and whoever his brother-in-law’s friends are, they are trying to keep him in the clear. The detectives on the case I know of, know that Randy is lying. They are just trying to get it to the point that they can prove he is perjuring himself, they can lock him up for conspiracy.
AllHipHop: What about Jay’s nephew Boe? He left right before Jay was shot.
Karl Jordan: I think Randy forced him to leave cause it was convenient. I think Randy persuaded him to leave the studio to get a haircut. Come on man, this kid wears braids. I don’t know why he needed a haircut or a line up. He left and that the time, that’s when everything went wrong.
AllHipHop: Do you think they will ever solve the murder?
Karl Jordan: I think so. I read a report that Lulu was supposed to tell the truth. I don’t know why she aint telling the truth. It’s gonna look f*cked up either way, cause she waited so long. I thought it was good thing she was cooperating. I don’t know why they haven’t locked all of them up on conspiracy charges. That should be the charge for Randy and Lydia and everyone in studio. Conspiracy to commit murder.