The murder of RUN-DMC co-founder and legendary DJ Jam Master Jay, whose real name is Jason Mizell, was solved 21 years after his death. Ronald Washington, the famed DJ’s childhood friend, and Karl Jordan Jr., his godson, currently face life in prison after being convicted on all charges.

For the first time, TJ, 33,  and Jesse, 29, two of Mizell’s sons, addressed the drug-dealing narrative that has surrounded their father’s death in an interview with CBS News New York.

Although they were just 11 and 7 when their father died, they have vivid memories of the tragedy that forever changed their family.

During the interview, Maurice DuBois asked, “The two men convicted are his godson and a longtime friend. Does that give you any sense of end to the story?" 

"Like, this person wasn't even that far from us the whole time," TJ answered. "Yeah, I saw him not that long ago at a party. And interestingly, they came up to me, and it was like, 'Oh, just want you to know, I had nothing to do with that.' And he saw the look on our face -- 'cause Jesse was with me -- he saw the look on our face. And we're like, What are you talking about? You know, and he realized that we didn't know what the word on the street was." 

Jesse explained that the most difficult part of the ordeal was hearing allegations about his father being involved with drug dealing.

"'Jam Master Jay dies from drug deal gone wrong.' And so, that's a little difficult reading. But for us, we know, you know, what my father stood for," Jesse said. 

"The narrative right now is that he was selling cocaine to support his family because the Run-D.M.C. money wasn't coming in the way it had been. How does that sit with you?" DuBois asked. 

"We strongly believe that that's false. Like, we believe that there, obviously, that there was money involved, and whether that was his money or not. It's not like he's selling drugs, you know," TJ said. "So we really feel like it was like his money being taken and being used to do other things." 

"Jam Master Jay is also known for buying cars for everyone on the block on Christmas, and Christmas came around. Three people were getting a Toyota. You know, we have a big family. Like, we never longed for anything," Jesse added.

According to court documents, Mizell allegedly became a “middleman” and used his connections to move shipments of cocaine into New York City.

“As the spotlight for Run-DMC started to fade, the money wasn’t coming into Jason Mizell as it once was, so he turned to drugs to make money,”  Assistant US Attorney Miranda Gonzalez argued in court.

She also alleged that Mizell had earned hundreds of thousands of dollars as a drug trafficker, and in one transaction known as the “Baltimore Deal,” he helped move $200,000 in drugs from New York City to Washington, DC.

After Washinton and Jordan received word that they were being excluded from one of the alleged drug deals, they concocted a plan to murder Mizell, per court documents.

“The defendants had killed a world-famous musician in front of people they know,” Gonzalez said.

In the aftermath of the conviction, both TJ and Jesse are committed to carrying on their father’s legacy as one of the pioneers of hip-hop. 

"Understanding the impact and understanding the weight that we had, you know, to kind of carry and continue the legacy is like, 'OK, wow, this is enormous.' It's huge. You know, this legacy is massive, and it's beautiful." TJ said.