Jeff Kravitz/Getty ImagesDJ AM's Tuesday afternoon tweet quoted Grandmaster Flash, prophetically so: "New york, new york. Big city of dreams, but everything in new york aint always what it seems."
No, it isn't.
With word today that DJ AM had been found dead in New York, the inspiring story of one of the music world's premiere spinmeisters took a terrible turn: The man who had seemed incapable of being beat, whether it be by plane crash, obesity or drug troubles, had been beat.
At 36, DJ AM was a little less than one year removed from the Lear Jet tragedy that killed four people, and left him and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker the only survivors.
"My deepest condolences for DJ AM, you were a great artist and will be severely missed," Barker's wife Shanna Moakler said via Twitter.
Born Adam Goldstein in Philadelphia, DJ AM achieved fame beyond the club scene for his romances with Mandy Moore and Nicole Richie.