Cold Case: The Hip-Hop Sagas

In an attempt to expand their audience beyond the "old white people" demographic, CBS has announced a bold new programming decision for the upcoming May Sweeps. According to network executives, CBS's hit crime procedural, Cold Case will become a reality show of sorts, tackling the real-life murders of some of hip-hop's preeminent martyrs. Kathryn Morris and other cast members will take the skills learned from playing homicide detectives for the series and apply them to the actual murders of rappers and DJs who have been slain and whose murders remain unsolved. "It's hard to believe that authorities have yet to solve these murders," said Morris in a recent interview. "As a citizen, as an American, I feel it is my duty to bring these murderers to justice. That is what the show is about. That is what this country is about." CBS executives, who knew hardly anything of these murders nor the music, are still enthusiastic about the ratings these reality-based episodes can bring. Many within the hip-hop community are "ecstatic." Noted "hip-hop activist" and journalist, Harry Allen (also known as "the Media Assassin"), says, "It's about damned time somebody do something about this bullshit."



Planned Cold Case Episodes:


Sunday, May 3--Lamont "Big L" Coleman
On February 15, 1999, this noted Harlem rapper was gunned down just blocks away from the apartments in which he grew up. It had been rumored that Coleman was just about to sign with Roc-A-Fella just weeks before he died. Though a childhood friend, Gerard Woodley, was charged with Coleman's murder, he was later released. Woodley is currently serving time in prison on federal gun charges.




Sunday, May 10--Jason William "Jam Master Jay" Mizell
Legendary, pioneer rap DJ of Run-DMC, Jason William "Jam Master Jay" Mizell was shot and killed on October 30, 2002, in a Merrick Boulevard recording studio in Queens, New York. Twenty-three-year old, Urieco Rincon, was also shot in the ankle during the incident. Ronald "Tenad" Washington was named as an accomplice in the murder by federal prosecutors back in April 2007. They had also suspected Kenneth "Supreme" McGriff, a convicted drug dealer and friend of Murder, Inc., heads Irv and Chris Gotti. Most promising has been Washington, though, who's also suspected for the murder of a former Tupac Shakur associate, Randy Walker, in 1995. Neither have gone to court, yet, and many are skeptical. As Washington himself has put it: “They want to blame me for all the blood in rap."


Sunday, May 17 and Sunday, May 24--Pac and Biggie
Was the U.S. Federal government really and truly behind the September 6, 1996, assassination of Tupac Amaru "2Pac" Shakur and the March 9, 1997, assassination of Christopher George "Notorious B.I.G." Latore Wallace? In this two-part episode, Kathryn Morris and Crew dig deep, interview previously reluctant witnesses, go through previously classified government documents, and grill CIA, FBI, ATF, and FDA agents to finally get to the truth the government doesn't want you to hear.



Sunday, May 31--The Black-Eyed Peas
Cold Case: The Hip-Hop Sagas finally answers the burning question that has been plaguing hip-hop heads since 2003: Did Stacy Ann "Fergie" Ferguson really and truly kill William James "Will.i.am" Adams, Jr., Allen "Apl.de.Ap" Pineda, and Jaime "Taboo" Gomez, more popularly known as The Black-Eyed Peas?