Two men have been charged with the nearly 18-year old unsolved murder of Jason Mizell, known as Jam Master Jay of the hip hop trio Run-DMC.
The late DJ was shot in 2002 by a masked man in his recording studio in Queens, New York.
On Monday, prosecutors said Mizell was killed by acquaintances in a "drug related homicide".
The influential act he formed with Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "DMC" McDaniel disbanded after his death.
The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York has alleged that Mizell was murdered by Ronald Washington, 56, and Karl Jordan, 36, who were upset that they had been cut out of a drug deal.
Mr Jordan was arrested on Sunday. His accomplice is currently serving a prison sentence for robbery and will be formally charged next week, officials said.
They have both been charged with murder while engaged in narcotics trafficking and other felony offences.
In a press conference on Monday, officials said Mizell had acquired about 10kg of cocaine in the months before his death, and had threatened to cut out the suspects from the profit. That dispute allegedly led to a murder plot.
Mizell was killed on 30 October 2002 while playing video games in his studio in Hollis, Queen, where he grew up as a child and had gone on to mentor other aspiring rappers.
"They walked in and murdered him in cold blood," said prosecutor Seth DuCharme, adding that one of the men hugged Mizell before opening fire.
"We started investigating that case a very long time ago, in the early 2000s, but there were a lot of challenges in bringing that case," he continued, adding: "For the crime of murder, the passage of time offers you no escape."