How "The Murder Master Music Show" Managed To Document Hip-Hop's Darkest Corners

The Murder Master Music Show, inaugurated in 2004 by Scott Bejda, was conceived with the mission of preserving authentic underground Hip-Hop and ensuring due recognition for the genre’s legends and pioneers. The original run of the show spanned until 2008. In 2012, “Prezident Bejda” revived the show, and since its return, it has expanded significantly, adding nearly 800 episodes to its impressive roster.

Names affiliated with The Murder Master Music Show include Renizance, Mi$tuh-G, Darkroom Familia, X-It Only, Lord Nexus, Boxx A Million, Ganxsta NIP, Jackboy D-Payne, Xklusiv Mr Serv-On, and many more. Personally, Scott has covered ground in the culture as a journalist for 25 years and counting, interviewing greats like Ice-T, Busta Rhymes, Snoop, 50 Cent, Rick Ross and more.

Get more familiar with Prezident Scott Bejda and his legacy in Hip-Hop in this as-told-to interview with Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur.

My name is Scott Bejda and I am a music journalist from Illinois. My story is one of tragedy and triumph within the Hip-Hop world. I caught the Hip-Hop bug very early in life just like many from my generation who instantly gravitated towards Run DMC, Fat Boys, and Whodini. Eventually came along Ice-T, Eazy-E & NWA, Too Short, Geto Boys, 2 Live Crew, and many others. By listening to those artists, I found many other artists in the Underground world of Hip-Hop that kept me going to the record stores as often as possible throughout my childhood.

Becoming a Music Journalist

When I was about 17 or 18 I found a Hip-Hop publication called Murder Dog Magazine. It had big-name artists alongside underground talent which was something other magazines weren’t doing. I instantly loved it. It had the respect of the streets and was known for giving out free subscriptions to people who were incarcerated. I called the office and connected with the owner Black Dog Bone and started passing out and selling the magazine all throughout Illinois and Indiana and other areas in the Mid-West. After a year, I was asked if I heard of Esham out of Detroit. I told the publisher that I had his entire catalog. In the next issue, I was credited with doing the Esham/RLP discography in 1998. In the following issue, I did close to 20 reviews and was now officially a contributor to the magazine. Some of my reviews over the years included DMX’s Flesh of MY Flesh, Three 6 Mafia’s When The Smoke Clears, Twista’s Kamikaze, and The Geto Boy’s final project The Foundation to name a few.

Illness and perseverance

I was a couple of years into working with Murder Dog Magazine and developed double vision as well as muscle weakness. I was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, an autoimmune disease that attacks the nervous system and muscles with the possibility of being placed on a ventilator or death. Not long before I came down with the disease I just started to do interviews on top of reviews. Also, Murder Dog Magazine got distribution and was blowing up. We started to compete with The Source, XXL and Vibe in many markets putting up really good numbers. This was before the internet really took over, when magazines still sold a lot. Now people like Jay-Z, Nas, and all the heavyweights of Hip Hop wanted to be on the cover. Here I am with double vision expected to type out 90-minute interviews. At first, depression hit me hard, but I never gave up. I started to fight through the pain and conduct cover stories with the likes of Snoop Dogg, Z-Ro, The Game, T.I., 50 Cent, Rick Ross, Busta Rhymes, Jim Jones and many others. I worked my way up from contributor to becoming one of the editors of this publication that many called the Street Bible of Hip-Hop at the time.

Busta Rhymes Murder Dog Magazine Cover Story

One of Rap’s earliest podcasts

The term podcast was coined in 2004 in the UK. That was the same year that I started “The Murder Master Music Show.” The original version was a weekly pre-recorded online radio show that featured 15-minute previews of interviews for upcoming issues as well as music that I was reviewing. It was a way to promote the magazine. Murder Dog gave us an ad in every issue and we landed on various rapper’s websites including BG and Tech N9ne. It lasted from 2004 to 2008 but then brought back in 2012.

BG advertising Murder Master Music Show interview on his website 2005

Becoming one of Hip Hop’s most quoted podcasts

After coming back, it immediately started to get media coverage from all the major Hip-Hop news outlets. To date, there have been hundreds of articles published from content that came from Murder Master Music Show. Interviews with Jerry Heller, MC Shan, DMC and others went all over. The show eventually started to hit news outlets such as NY Post, People, Huffington Post, BET, and countless other media outlets.

People quoting the podcast after an interview with Larry Hoover Jr 2022

Thank you again for taking the time to journey with me through the last 25 years of my life covering Hip Hop music. I was just a fan like everyone else. I had no college degrees or connections, I was just a kid with passion for music. I was hit with a life-threatening illness and somehow persevered with the odds stacked against me. I never thought I would do a cover story with Snoop Dogg or have my podcast featured in books, on TV, or in documentaries. I stuck it out and gave a quarter century of my life to the Hip-Hop community and don’t regret it at all. Hopefully will be around for many more years to do what I love.

Murder Master Music Show