AllHipHop: There is a police station in the area that Jay was shot and killed. How could that have happened with the police being so close?
CMP: I don’t know. That’s what makes me think it was all inside. If the security tape was working all along, why wasn’t itworking that night?
AllHipHop: What do you think about some of the allegations published about Jay, in particular the drug dealing?
CMP: If Jason was into something like that, I would have never known. I don’t think any child tells their mother bad things that they plan to do. At the same time, you have quite a few addicts that said because of Jason, they stopped using. If he was dealing drugs, you would think he would try to keep everyone on it. He wouldn’t have encouraged them to go straight. So that’s the part I don’t understand.
AllHipHop: There’s a theory floating around that Jay and three men went down to Baltimore to sell kilos of cocaine and were subsequently robbed by a guy known as Yakin. Do you know who he is?
CMP: No, I’ve never heard of him. I can see Jason going, but was it for Jason or was it for Randy? Jason was forever bailing Randy out, all his life he went to bat for Randy. I think it could happen, but the reason for him going, and I knew him well enough to know that if Randy was in a jam and if he could help him out, he would go to bat. So if it went sour, or bad, or wherever it went, I don’t believe it was his, I think he was trying to help somebody.
AllHipHop: What was the climate with his friends like before he died? Was there any tension between any of them?
CMP: I only saw him during family gatherings when I came up.
AllHipHop: How do you feel his friends have handled it? There’s almost a million dollars in reward money being offered to the person or persons that help catch the killer and no one has come forward.
CMP: I can’t answer that. The person that gets the reward would be the person that did it. If they know the truth they should come forward and tell the truth. I can imagine that whoever did it is most miserable, not knowing what hour or day someone is going to hit them. I wish no ill will towards anyone but in due time, they will be found.
AllHipHop: How is Jay’s wife and sons coping with this?
CMP: (Laughs) I really can’t answer that. I have spoken with Terri (Jay’s wife), maybe three times since he has passed. I don’t know where she lives and I haven’t seen the boys at all since he died.
AllHipHop: Do you think that’s deliberate? Is she keeping them from you?
CMP: Well, I don’t know anyone that can keep them from me, other than Terri herself. I never did anything to her, I held her in high regards as my daughter-in-law and she always treated me well. I don’t understand and I try not to dwell on it too much. I would love to see the kids because I miss them. Those years…the man who took Jason’s life also took my whole family. I see Jason’s oldest son and I talk to him often.
AllHipHop: Adidas put out a limited run of a Jam Master Jay sneaker and there were some other fundraising events. Did the family see any of that money?
CMP: Right now we have two families. It’s me and my children (Jay’s sister Bonita and brother Marvin) and Terri and her family. Terri and her family benefited from what I gather. But my family hasn’t received anything from anybody.
AllHipHop: What happened with Jay’s business affairs? I am sure he gets money from publishing, album sales and the likes.
CMP: Terri is the administrator for his estate, so it would all go through her.
AllHipHop: What about the physical assets?
CMP: I don’t know anything about the business or the things Randy and his sister dealt. The home, that is about the only physical asset that he had. I don’t know about any of his dealings.
AllHipHop: So you don’t know anything about an alleged insurance policy that was taken out on Jay, should anything happen to him?
CMP: Yes I have heard about the insurance policy.
AllHipHop: Here we have perhaps one of the most influential men in all of hip-hop and very important in pop culture dead. His celebrity friends have stopped talking about it and it seems the investigation is at a total stand still.
CMP: It’s like a merry-go-round. But it all goes back to that studio, where it started. How did the killer get in and how did they not know who it was? There are so many lies. First he had on a mask, then they gave a description of a man and his son and that threw it to someone else. I wish they would solve it.
AllHipHop: Are you involved with the charitable work that Jay’s brother Marvin is doing?
CMP: Yes, I am the chairman of the Jam Master Jay For Youth Foundation.
AllHipHop: What are your goals for that?
CMP: We hope to reach children. We have the Jay Whip that we purchased. We are going to wrap the van and raffle it off to raisemoney for scholarships for 1,000 children that want to go to college. It will be based on their academic and financial needs. Our goal is to raise $2 million dollars to help children across the United States. We want to benefit the young people in the community because Jason cared about them. My dream is to keep the legacy alive and keep the home Jay was raised in. God is going to bless me to do that.
If I sell it, he won’t have any ties left to Queens.