Authorities say rapper Young Dolph was shot and killed inside a renowned local cookie bakery in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, on Wednesday. He was widely revered in the hip-hop world for his honesty and fierce independence.
Police stated that they have no information on a probable suspect in the incident, which occurred near Memphis International Airport at Makeda’s Cookies.
In a statement, Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland said, “The unfortunate shooting death of rap musician Young Dolph serves as another reminder of the misery that violent crime brings with it.”
Young Dolph’s cousin, Mareno Myers, told the Daily Memphian newspaper that the 36-year-old rapper had been in town since Monday, visiting an aunt with cancer and handing out Thanksgiving turkeys.
“Someone simply rolled up on him and took his life inside (Makeda’s),” Myers added.
Last week, the cookie shop shared a video of the rapper praising the store’s cookies on Instagram, saying he visits it anytime he’s in Memphis.
Following the incident, a large throng gathered near the business. Memphis Police Director Cerelyn “CJ” Davis implored the public to be calm at a news conference Wednesday evening, and advised citizens to stay at home tonight. She didn’t specify whether police believe additional gunshots that were under investigation on Wednesday were connected to the rapper’s death.
A member of the city council proposed a curfew. Davis would not rule out the possibility of issuing one in the future.
Young Dolph, like Nipsey Hussle, a rapper from Los Angeles who was assassinated in 2019, took an individualistic approach to the music industry. His music was still under the management of his Paper Route Empire label. In a 2018 mini-documentary co-produced by his label, titled “Turned Dirt Into Diamonds,” he claimed, “I just acquired another idea for it – strictly 100 percent ownership.” “A lot of people don’t see what I see,” says the narrator.
Chance the Rapper tweeted, “God bless Dolph.” “I’m a true independent Memphis rapper who was born in Chicago. “Millions of people love you.”
According to The Commercial Appeal, Adolph Thornton Jr. was born in Chicago and came to Memphis when he was two years old. He revealed in the documentary that he was raised by his grandmother and that once he became successful, he sought to help his parents “clean up their lives.”
He released a number of mixtapes, beginning with “Paper Route Campaign” in 2008, as well as various studio albums, the most recent of which was “King of Memphis” in 2016. Other rappers with whom he collaborated on mixtapes and albums include Key Glock, Megan Thee Stallion, T.I., Gucci Mane, 2 Chainz, and others.
Young Dolph had three albums chart in the top ten on the Billboard 200, with “Rich Slave” (released in 2020) reaching No. 4.
Young Dolph spoke about being a drug dealer and life on the streets of Memphis in his music. He recently performed at a concert at the University of Memphis and at a Memphis Grizzlies game during halftime. In Memphis, he was regarded as a torchbearer for Three 6 Mafia, the city’s rap legends.
Dolph was a workaholic when he was younger, and he had been concentrating on expanding his business in recent years. “I’m a CEO first, then an artist,” he told Forbes writer Gary Suarez in a 2020 interview, explaining that he’d deferred signing with a major label on purpose. “As long as I keep going up and working, my worth will rise.”
“I know what the streets want to hear, what the streets are going through, the lingo, the trend, the whole shebang.” He told Suarez, “It ain’t nothing; it’s my genuine existence.”
Dolph was a survivor of earlier shootings. After a confrontation outside a Los Angeles hotel in September 2017, he was shot numerous times. Near February of that year, his SUV was fired at over 100 times in Charlotte, North Carolina. The song “100 Shots” was inspired by the occurrence. According to The Commercial Appeal, he said he survived because his truck had bulletproof panels.
Officials in Memphis, sportsmen, and members of the music industry all expressed their sympathies on social media.
Gucci Mane wrote on Twitter, “R.I.P. to my friend Dolph, this destroyed my heart.”
APA, the rapper’s talent agency, expressed sorrow and sadness over his passing.
In a statement, the agency stated, “The world has lost an icon, a brilliant guy, and a beloved artist who was taken far too soon.” “His devotion, determination, hard work, and loyalty to those around him came first in all he did, and he will be much missed.”
Young Dolph said a doctor informed him he needed some alone time in a message on his Twitter account on Oct. 20.
“I never understood what anxiety was until my doctor just told me this morning that I have it,” said another tweet from the same day.
“I still can’t believe I got to where I am in life,” he tweeted in August. “It’s still surreal.”
This is the city’s fourth high-profile shooting in the last two months. Other incidents include a school shooting in which a 13-year-old student injured a classmate, the fatal shooting of two postal workers by a third postal worker who then killed himself, and a mass shooting at a Kroger grocery store in the Collierville suburb that left two people dead, including the shooter, and more than a dozen injured.