Young Dolph was one of the most respected artists from Memphis, Tennessee.
He built his own music empire and made it to the top of the rap game,
all while staying independent and owning his masters.
But Dolph also had serious beef in Memphis and was tragically murdered
while visiting a cookie store in his hometown.
Let’s take a closer look at what happened.
On November 17th, 2021,
rumors started circulating on social media
after witnesses started posting
that Young Dolph was shot and killed while visiting Makeda’s Butter Cookies in South Memphis.
A Memphis woman went on IG Live and showed the outside of the shop
with the glass front shattered with bullet holes.
Police are seen standing around taking statements and she can be heard yelling “they say Dolph dead y’all”
they say Dolph dead y’all
Not long after that,
Memphis police confirmed that the gunshot victim taken away on a stretcher was Young Dolph
who had been pronounced dead at the scene.
The news was a huge shock to the hip-hop industry.
Everyone from Russ to Meg Thee Stallion to Gucci Mane
hopped on social media to mourn the loss as soon as the news was confirmed.
Fans were quick to point out that Dolph was in a video on instagram
less than a week ago, showing love to Makeda’s Cookies,
while talking with the owner, claiming that every time he's in Memphis, he stops there.
Only 6 days later, the rapper was shot in the exact same spot.
Not much info is avaible about exactly what happened.
But witnesses claim that around 1 pm, Dolph pulled up to Makeda’s Cookies
located at 2370 Airways Blvd,
and as he walked into the store, a masked gunman followed him and shot him twice before fleeing.
A fan who was on the scene of the shooting admitted that she knew the victim was Dolph,
even before they brought him out of the store, based on the car parked outside.
It was a Corvette with a unique camouflage wrap.
She said that Dolph was the only one in the city who had that car.
This led to speculation that Dolph was seen in his car by his killer
and followed to the parking lot.
The rapper was known for having his cars bullet-proofed,
after a shooting in 2017 where he was almost killed inside his own whip.
But the killer might have known that which is why he waited until Dolph got out of the car.
Police have yet to release any official info about a suspect or a motive behind the shooting.
But Dolph is a rapper from a streets
and had high-profile beefs with other artists in Memphis,
mainly Yo Gotti.
There isn’t any proof that Yo Gotti or his camp had anything to do with the murder.
But there have already been rumors that the streets of Memphis are on fire right now.
they saying, Yo Gotti’s mother’s restaurant and Blac Youngsta’s grandmother's house
have both allegedly been shot up in retaliation.
But neither of these have been confirmed as of yet, so they are just rumors.
Young Dolph’s wasn’t just an up-and-coming rapper who still had one foot in the streets.
He was a superstar artist and business owner who had leveled up his career,
only to be killed at the age of 36 over jealousy and hate.
Many fans are comparing this to Nipsey Hussle's murder,
claiming this is as another example of why street affiliated rappers
need to leave their old hood once they get famous.
Dolph was born in Chicago, but moved to Memphis, Tennessee when he was just 2 years old.
He has two sisters and two brothers
and is cousins with his artist Key Glock and late rapper Juice WRLD.
Growing up, Dolph’s parents were both addicted to crack cocaine
and he was mainly raised by his grandmother.
So, he started hustling to support himself from a young age.
In 2008, he was involved in a car accident that almost killed him.
It made him realize that he needed to get serious about his music career before it was too late.
He dropped his first mixtape Paper Route Campaign later that year.
Two years later, the rapper would start his own independent label
Paper Route Empire in 2010.
Dolph continued to drop mixtapes which increased his popularity in the city.
He was inspired by Memphis legends like Three 6 Mafia , 8Ball and MJG
and early on he adopted a similar flow.
But over time he created his own style and personality
which gained him respect and recognition in the city.
He started building a buzz with his High-Class Street Music mixtape series
and began to collaborate with other Southern rap legends like Gucci Mane and Peewee Longway.
He also caught Yo Gotti's attention, who wanted to sign him to CMG.
Allegedly, Dolph was Gotti’s big brother’s plug, so he already knew about his reputation in the streets.
In 2014, he offered Dolph a deal to sign to his CMG label.
But Dolph turned it down and decided to stay independent.
This is where the tension between the two rappers first started to form.
Dolph confirmed this rumor in an interview with Sway in the Morning,
claiming that he declined the offer cause he didn’t want to be seen as Yo Gotti’s artist,
he wanted to create his own lane.
But Gotti took it personal and started hating.
After that, Dolph’s career kept going up.
He dropped the track Cut it with OT Genesis,
which went double platinum and peaked at #35 on Billboard.
Later that year, he also dropped his debut studio album King of Memphis.
Many saw the title as a shot at Yo Gotti,
who had also claimed to be King of Memphis in the past.
During that time Yo Gotti was also making moves
and building up his roster on CMG.
He signed Blac Youngsta in 2015, who became his protégé instead of Dolph.
The beef between CMG and Dolph really picked up in February 2016
after Dolph tweeted “Bra went from bein my #1 fan and wanting to sign me to being my biggest hater #Facts”.
He didn’t tag or mention Yo Gotti by name,
but it didn’t take long for fans to figure out who the tweet was about.
After that Dolph would continue dissing Gotti,
who never commented on the beef in public.
But behind the scenes, it was heating up.
Not long after that, Blac Youngsta hopped on social media
and stood up for Gotti, calling Dolph a b****
and denying that he’s the king of Memphis.
He even captioned the post
“When I C dat n**** Dolph I’ma smack the shit out of em, on my life”.
Then, Blac Youngsta doubled down on the disrespect
by showing up to Dolph’s hood with a few of his homies looking for the rapper.
Dolph would respond a few weeks later with an IG video where he accused Yo Gotti
of hating on Memphis legends like Three 6, 8ball & MJG.
He also dissed Gotti for sending his artist to fight battles for him
and for calling the cops on him.
He also captioned the video
"I GUESS U STILL MAD CAUSE I DIDN'T NEVER SIGN WIT YO P**** ASS..
Or is u still in your feelings cause u fail out wit Gucci Mane
and u was mad at me cause I kept rockin wit Gucci.”
Blac Youngsta would respond by dropping the diss track Shake Sum the day after where he raps
“Dolph don’t wanna play, h**
I’m on tour with the K, h**
Mac 11’s, Smith-N-Wessons,
extended clip, 100 rounds on the Drago”
The video for the song also featured footage from the day that he pulled up in Dolph’s hood.
In February 2017, Dolph dropped the diss track Play Wit Yo B**** (Yo Gotti Diss),
which really set things off.
The album art features a photo of a cell phone with 24 missed calls from Ho Gotti Baby Mama.
On the song, Dolph says he slept with Yo Gotti’s Baby Mama,
which is part of what started the beef.
But Yo Gotti just shrugged it off tweeting
“I’m business partners with Jay-Z and LA Reid”
and “Blah Blah Blah”.
After that, Dolph dropped a video to Play Wit Yo B****, taking the disrespect to the next level,
casting a Yo Gotti look-alike, who starts crying after Dolph steals his girl.
The day after the video dropped, Dolph was in Charlotte, North Carolina
for CIAA weekend to perform at a nightclub.
He was in a black SUV at 8th and North Caldwell Street
when someone started letting off shots.
His car was hit a total of 100 times,
but surprisingly no one was injured cause the SUV was bulletproof.
After the shooting, Dolph got on social media to taunt his attackers, tweeting
"U lose" with a laughing emoji.
He also still took the stage and perform as scheduled,
showing he wasn’t fazed by the shooting.
But despite all the back and forth,
Dolph later did an interview where he claimed that there was no real beef
and it was all old news.
He got pretty quiet when asked about the Charlotte shooting.
But he made it clear that he didn’t want to make things even worse.
In April 2017,
he dropped an album called Bulletproof which peaked at #36 on Billboard.
The album’s title was an obvious reference to the shooting.
The tracklisting even spelled out a message to his opps.
If you read the songs all in order it says
“100 shots In Charlotte but I’m Bulletproof, So Fuckem, That’s How I Feel, I’m So Real,
I Pray for My Enemies, I’m Everything You Wanna Be,
So That’s Why You Envy Me, SMH.”
In May 2017, Blac Youngsta was arrested
in connection with the shooting in Charlotte.
He and three other men surrendered themselves to police and were facing several felony charges.
But they were all later dropped due to lack of evidence.
Blac Youngsta addressed the allegations in the track I’m innocent,
where he claims that the only reason he was arrested was that Dolph was snitching.
Then on September 26th, 2017, Dolph was shot outside of a hotel in downtown Hollywood.
Yo Gotti was supposedly staying at the hotel and Dolph and his people went to confront him.
A fight broke out and Dolph ended up getting shot.
He was brought to the hospital in critical condition after getting hit 3 times,
but he eventually pulled through and made a full recovery
Immediately after the shooting Yo Gotti was rumored to be a person of interest
but no official charges were filed against him.
One of his associates Corey McClendon
got arrested for attempted murder the next day and held on a $1million bail.
But just like Blac Youngsta, McClendon was later released
due to lack of evidence and no one else was ever arrested for the shooting.
Dolph would later drop an EP in 2018
called N****s Get Shot Everyday referencing the attempt on his life.
But surprisingly after that, the beef started to die down.
Both rappers continued to downplay it in interviews and say that it wasn't real beef.
They definitely weren’t cool
and it ain't seem likely that a Young Dolph x Yo Gotti collab was on the way any time soon.
But there were no more high-profile shootings or obvious diss songs.
But maybe there was more going on in the streets that fans ain’t know about.
There isn’t enough info about Dolph's murder to know whether it was related to the Yo Gotti beef
or someone else who had problems with Dolph.
But whoever did it, started a war in Memphis.
Tennessee House Representative London Lamar and Memphis Councilman JB Smiley
reacted to the news by issuing a citywide curfew to prevent any problems or more violence.
So, you know it's already turning up.
More info on this story is likely to come out as police investigate.
So stay posted for updates